Development of the Venetian Glass Industry

Name: Development of the Venetian Glass Industry
Start: 1280
End: 1290

Type Event Region Venice Time 1280–1290

In the second half of the 13th century Venetian glassmaking matured, with workshops and exports expanding markedly around 1285, laying the institutio…

Timeline

1285–1288Venice main island and lagoon · VeniceGlassblowing, improved cristallo recipes, and colored enamel decoration techniques spread among workshops on the main island and neighboring islands; products were shipped along Venetian trade routes to the Levant, remaining Byzantine ports, and Western European courts.
1285–1290Port of Venice · VeniceThe Republic tightened guild registration and quality control of glassmakers; export lists show glassware becoming a major foreign trade commodity. Fire and safety concerns prompted the government to plan concentrating production on Murano (formally ordered in 1291).

Sources

Vetro e vetrai di Murano: storia di una industria — Luigi Zecchin (1987)
Glass of the Sultans: Twelve Centuries of Masterworks from the Islamic World — Stefano Carboni and David Whitehouse (2001)