Venetian Mirror

Venetian mirrors VM760 27" x 43"H list price: $ 5000.00 your price: $ 4000.00
Magnificent hand-crafted Venetian wall mirror framed in hand etched glass with gold accents. Venetian mirror has hand etched design with leaf motif and elaborate multidimensional frame, trimmed with glass ribbons and rosettes with gold highlights. This Venetian mirror is hand-crafted in Italy
see also:
Venetian mirror (33" x 52"H)	antique Venetian mirror
large Venetian mirror (40" x 60-1/2"H)	antiqued Venetian mirror (26-3/4" x 43"H )

Venetian mirrors >> history >>

Venetian glassmakers from Venice-Murano knew how to make glass so pure, white and fine that they called it "crystalline" because of its similarities to rock crystal, whose transparency and shine it resembles. In 1503 Venetian mirror makers declared that they were the only ones to know the secrete of making mirrors of crystalline glass, a most valuable and singular thing unknown throughout the world. The break-through in glass making for mirrors was achieved with the use of a vegetable ash rich in potassium oxide and magnesium. The glass salts, extracted from the ash were used as the fluxing agent in the melting process, mixed with sand to produce a sodium-potassium-based crystal-like glass without the weight of today's lead crystal, but with equal clarity and elegance. Crystalline responded superbly to the breathy commands of the blower, moving to form without fuss. Venetian glass blown by the craftsman of Murano was light and clear, gossamer to touch, perfect to create astonishing details for the mirrors.