History of glass

The history of glass traces how people made, shaped, traded, and used glass, from early natural glass and ancient glassmaking to modern industrial production.

Glassblowing: A process for shaping molten glass by inflating it through a hollow tube. Its invention in the first century BCE made hollow vessels faster and cheaper to produce.
Obsidian: A naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava cools rapidly. Its ancient use preceded manufactured glass and supplied a familiar model for glassy materials.
Glass vessels: Containers and drinking objects made from glass, including bottles, bowls, and cups. Vessels were among the earliest and most widespread forms of manufactured glass.
Theophilus Presbyter: A medieval author whose treatise On Divers Arts describes artistic and craft techniques, including glasswork. His account preserves practical evidence about European glassmaking around the twelfth century.
Glass architecture: Architecture that uses glass as a significant structural, environmental, or visual element. Advances in flat glass enabled larger windows and transparent building envelopes.
Mold-blown glass: Glass shaped by blowing molten material into a mold that gives it a defined form or pattern. Molds let ancient glassmakers repeat shapes and decorate vessels efficiently.
Faience: A glazed, non-clay ceramic material made from a silica-rich body and a vitreous surface coating. Its production drew on techniques and materials related to early glassmaking.
Stained glass: Colored glass arranged in windows, often held together by lead cames and painted with details. Medieval churches made glass a medium for monumental images and filtered light.
Bernard Perrot: A seventeenth-century French glassmaker known for developing casting methods for large glass plates. His work advanced plate glass production for mirrors and architectural uses.
Scientific revolution: A period of major change in European natural philosophy and science, chiefly from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. Glass lenses and instruments extended observation beyond unaided human senses.

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Silicon dioxideRelated: Silica-rich materials have served as the principal glass-forming ingredient for millennia.