The exhibition at the Hermitage Museum presents more than 250 of the most valuable and interesting exhibits from the museum's collection of antique glass

In Picket Hall of the Winter Palace, State Hermitage Museum opened an exhibition of glass objects of ancient times "Glass extravaganza. The exhibition presents more than 250 of the most valuable and interesting exhibits from the Hermitage collection of antique glass, more than one thousand items. Many of them are first introduced to the public.

• bottle. I,. Mr. Oe.
  Eastern Mediterranean
  transparent glass honey-yellow
  Source: hermitagemuseum.org
• bottle. The IV. Syria
  bluish transparent glass and translucent blue-green; loopy decorative handles and embossed spiral pattern. Source: hermitagemuseum.org

exhibition dedicated to the memory of outstanding scientist, an expert in ancient glass-making, Nina Zalmanovny Kunin, who for years studied the vast Hermitage collection of antique glass.

Early Antiques VI-V centuries BC consisted mostly miniature bottles of spices, and formed of opaque glass. The same glass was carried out on the Ancient East - Mesopotamia and Egypt - in II century BC. From the same was taken and the so-called core technology. Its essence was that the metal rod wore subsequently removed core - a clay disc in the shape of the future of the vessel on which to wind strands of hot glass. When combined, they create the walls, decorated with ornaments from the zig-zag yellow, turquoise and white glass strands.

Imitating the shape of the vessel made of precious metals led to the use of glass casting technique to form. Ostyvshuyu casting with polishing and cutting parts adorned her ornaments turned into an exquisite work of art. Excellent illustration of this type of glass is a unique work of craftsmen from Alexandria: die-cast bowl (III - II century BC) with openwork ornament of gold foil, signed between the two layers of clear glass. One of the exhibition showcases all given a glass gems. Among them a gold ring with inset blue glass (the middle of IV century BC), filled in the same technology as the Alexandrian bowl. It is decorated with double-sided image of a gold foil: on one side - a sea monster, surrounded by floating fish and dolphins, on the other - two dancers in peaked caps of the barbarian and short coats. It also exhibited a collection of Falera.

to the highest achievements of the ancient art of glassmaking are the rarest monuments of miniature sculpture. Hermitage boasts one of them: glass female head height of only 3,5 cm. Specialists attributed the crown of blue glass as a portrait of the Empress of Libya, the wife of Roman emperor Augustus.

From the I century BC to the I century AD, is experiencing its peak mosaic technique. Require genuine virtuosity of the craftsmen, then borrowed the famous Venetian glass-making it possible to create objects that imitated products made of semi-precious stones, jasper and agate, but surpassing them in diversity and richness of colors. In the decoration is sometimes applied gold leaf, which gave them a special elegance.

In the middle of the I century BC there was a radical change in glass. Then, in Syria, was invented by blowing a tube through which the glass bubble, resulting from the hot workpiece by blowing air into it, was converted into the jars, bottles, glasses and crockery. With the advent of such an instrument the opportunity to take full advantage of the special properties of glass: its transparency, allowing sunlight to pass.

• Amphora depicting vine
  am I in. Mr. er. Northern Italy
  transparent glass, bright green, painted with enamel paints. Source: hermitagemuseum.org

Wizard not only learned to create objects from the finest glass, such that in their hands, it seems almost weightless, but paint it in a clean and deep colors using different metal oxides. Sometimes glassblowers beat contrast transparent background with a pattern, applied opaque enamel paints. A magnificent specimen - presented at the exhibition amphora of bright green glass surface which covers the painting: floral design of flowers with leaves and vines of ivy, with sitting on their birds. The combination of green, blue, yellow, red and white flowers give a special scenic this exquisite proportions of work published from the workshop in northern Italy.

Syrian workshops in the I century, specialized in blowing in the form of negative sectional matrix of clay or stone. This method allows you to create an entire series of identical vessels with different color or detail, refined by hand: a whisk, legs, handles.

• Amforisk. The first half I in. Mr. Oe.
  Northern Italy
  Glass transparent brown, jamming white, blue and dark blue. Source: hermitagemuseum.org
• Amforisk. Mid - third quarter I in. Mr. Oe.
  Northern Italy
  Glass clear blue, white and yellow jamming
  Source: hermitagemuseum.org

With the introduction of technology available Blowing considerably simplify and speed up the process of production, glass quickly spread to the ancient world. Although the main centers of glass were in the eastern Mediterranean, it has been successfully developed in Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire - Gaul and Germany, and northern Black Sea coast. The exhibition at a special map, you can see the places where they were found the remains of the workshops of ancient glassblowers.

The last section of the exhibition (two windows in the center) includes bronzes, clay and silver. It shows how free the ancient glassmakers used a rich array of forms, invented by the Greek potters and torevtami. Sometimes this borrowing took place immediately after the appearance of any form among the products made of clay or metal, which is replicated very accurately. Traditional forms, embodied in the glass, often in tiny amounts, they acquire distinctiveness, while demonstrating the general aesthetic preferences in the works of ancient masters of arts and crafts.

By State Hermitage Publishing House has been prepared academic catalog.

exhibition runs until January 16, 2011.

Source: hermitagemuseum.org