Glass Versatile beauty of everyday life

Necklace made in mosaic glass-making method is on display at the National Museum of Korea through Feb. 17. / Courtesy of National Museum of Korea

• Published Dec 6, 2012 3:57 PM KST
• Updated Dec 6, 2012 3:57 PM KST

Glass: versatile beauty of everyday life Glassware in various shapes

By Chung Ah-young

Modern glass has an enchanting sparkle and smooth texture but its earliest forms were optically oblique and rough. It was mainly manufactured in blue or cobalt in a shamanistic belief to ward off evil spirits in ancient times.

Glass production is known to have begun some 5,000 years ago for making containers and other items in Mesopotamia and West Asia. It has continuously evolved into various forms and styles as manufacturing methods were developed.

The National Museum of Korea is showcasing the long history of glassware spanning from the 15th century B.C. to the 15th century in an exhibition titled “History in Glass: 3,000 Years of Glassware From the Mediterranean and West Asia” through Feb. 17. The exhibition displays 375 artifacts from the collection of the Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum in Japan.

“We encounter glass products every day but we never think about its origin. In the ancient time, glass objects were regarded as luxury items like jewelry. And its value has changed over time. It’s a rare opportunity to see the birth and development of glass-making history at a glance,” Kim Young-na, director of the museum, said.

Glass as an object is fascinating as it is used not only for the practical purposes but also for artwork as it is malleable and versatile.

Before glass was utilized to manufacture independent items, it was used as supplementary material to coat stones or other objects as it existed as natural substances in the ground.

Glass-making history is largely divided into two periods — before and after glassblowing, a landmark technique that changed the production of glass objects.

Before glassblowing, the glassmaking process was very complicated and difficult. Many of the early products were discovered in Mesopotamia and then in West Asia.

“In the early period, glass was made as a substitute for jewels. In ancient times, jewels like turquoises were popular in a belief to protect the holder’s body from evil spirits. So glass was manufactured to resemble such jewels because they were expensive and very rare,” Yang Hee-jung, the curator of the exhibition, said.

At the entrance to the exhibition hall, colorful, tiny glass pieces capture the eye. The first part of the exhibition features the earliest forms of glass manufactured by core forming, casting and mosaic techniques before the discovery of glassblowing.

The core-forming method is making a body of a vessel around a core and winding the trails around it and adding handles and a rim and then cooling the vessel and removing the core. Through this technique small vessels were made patterned with scratches on the surface. The curator said that such small glass vessels were used to contain olive oil and perfumes. Many objects made in this

technique are shaped as amphora or pendants with eyes or face paintings on them.

“In ancient times, people believed that holding accessories shaped like the eyes could beat fear. So many artifacts are painted with oversized eyes,” she said.

The casting method is to make glass objects by pouring molten glass into a mould where it solidifies just like the process of casting metal objects. The glass utensils made in this method were mostly used by the upper class.

The mosaic method is to create glass from multiple colors of glass that were heated and melted together to form patterns. This technique helped create objects with flamboyant and colorful patterns, and various accessories such as inlaid face-shaped pendants of necklace and glass beads with stratified eyes.

During the earliest period using these three methods, glass products were owned by only a handful of the upper class as the techniques were known by only a few masters.

The second section of the exhibition features the landmark development of glassblowing which enabled mass production around the 1st century B.C. in the region of Palestine. The innovative method rapidly spread to other Mediterranean areas. This technique enabled production within a few minutes that meant glass was used to create daily items for the middle and lower class, while various decorations and designs were also developed.

“It’s the most interesting part in glass-making history. The ancient glass makers might not feel out of place even in modern times because the glassblowing technique is still being used,” Yang said.

“The patterns were bolder and diverse in shape and design as the technique made glass producing easier,” she said.

The third part of the exhibition shows the flourish of decorative glass after the Roman Empire collapsed from the 5th to the 15th century. From this period, Islamic glass peaked with various decorations and designs. Glass products in the Sassanid Empire followed the Roman style but they were less decorative and thick. So a cutting technique was developed to make patterns on the surface of the objects.

“A competitive mood was created to meet the diverse needs. The cutting technique is one of them to make the objects very different,” she said.

In this period, not only glassblowing but also the earliest methods were used while adopting new methods such as enamel coating. Around the 12th century, glass products coated with enamel were created as decorations.

Interestingly, a glass water cup similar in shape to artifacts found in this period was discovered in Hwangnamdaechong, a tumuli of the Silla period (57 B.C.-935), which shows that there was cultural exchange between Silla and West Asia. Also, an animal-headed rhyton made from earthenware was found in the Geumyeongchong tomb in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

Yang said the exhibition gives an opportunity for visitors to appreciate the use of glass and its historical value. “There have been no such exhibitions to introduce ancient glass relics from the Mediterranean and West Asia regions here along with their origins and development,” she said.

The exhibition also provides docent tours twice a day at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to help visitors better understand the artifacts.