Venetian mirrors >> historical facts >>
By the start of the seventeen century Venetian glass mirrors covered a wide
range of forms and designs. There was Venetian mirrors covered with delicate
enameling, jeweled glass with gilts and gleams of silver, clear glass
latticed with opaque threads, glass of soft colors, the so-called ice glass
with its shimmering, shattered appearance obtained by dipping the still-hot
glass in cold water. The goblets Venetian masters made for the mirror were
daringly thin and fragile. Glass as the most pliable of materials had been
stretched to new limits by Venetian glassmakers, as it would be time and
time again, and as it continues to be today. Venetian mirrors through the
Renaissance and beyond were the finest mirrors made in all the world, and
most of the world - Europe, especially - was envious
