| Original Message: More Early Venetian Seedbeads |
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This is the collection of a friend of mine. On the left are unrelated ceramic beads, recovered in Mali. (That these are "ancient" has been challenged; though I am not doubtful.) Then, the right beads are "nila" beads again. The three groups between them are hanks of Venetian (most likely, but surely European) seedbeads—similar in size, shapes, and vintage as the previous. They are opaque white, a gray that is probably induced from glass decay, and a translucent dark blue. I have the gray and white ones in my collection as well. A few years ago, I wrote an article about these beads, suggesting that Venetians developed seedbead-making to fill a market where Indo-Pacific beads were popular, but no longer made. I still think this is a reasonable proposition. You can read the paper in The Bead Museum Quarterly. The similarity between early European glass seedbeads and both Indo-Pacific and Middle Eastern beads is strong enough that confusion is understandable. JDA. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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