Roman Glass

During the 4th and and 5th centuries AD, the Roman glassmakers were definately in a class by themselves. Glassmaking and glassworking were separate vocations. The glassmakers would use a tank furnace to melt many tons of raw materials in one hit, and glass workers used many techniques to manufacture objects from simple household utensils to luxury objects. Cage glasss are some of the Romans’ most remarkable glass creations. An undecorated “blank” with a really thick wall was given to a cold worker, who used cutting wheels and hand tools to take away two-thirds of the glass, that left an open “cage” that enclosed the container. The metal attachments show that this cage glass was a lamp that was to be suspended. The bowl contained some oil and a wick, sometimes floating on a piece of cork. Think about the patterns of light and shade that were cast by the flame as it shone into the cage. London Glaziers are familier with older glass.

The Migration Period.
The fifth and sixth centuries are also known as the “Migration Period,” as people from outside the Roman Empire moved into the former Roman provinces and built small, independent kingdoms. In a lot of these groups, it was customary to bury the dead with personal possessions. London Glazing supply high quality glass. This, including glass provided 18th and 19th century antiquarians with the raw material for the study of early medieval culture. This study of medieval glass is pretty much the study of drinking vessels. Though most of the best examples of these vessels have been recovered from graves, the prescence of fragments of exactly the same glass in settlements shows that the objects buried with the dead were the same as those used by the people still living. Some of the earliest glasses are similar to those produced in late Roman times.