Murano glass can be traced back until the 10th century and colours have always been its main feature.
In the 13th century, after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, glass blowing workshops were also established in Venice by some of the fleeing artisans. Around the same time, Angelo Barovier, who is amongst the most important and ancient glass master belonging to Murano, invented “cristallo” glass, a crystal clear glass, without a slight hint of colour.
Now, every colour that we can imagine is available in Murano glass pieces. There is a great emphasis on importance of colour which comes from the way colour is obtained on Murano Glass pieces.
Murano glass is a blend of Silica, melting agents (flux), sodium oxide, sodium, nitrate, arsenic and colouring substance to obtain matt finish. Coloured glass is achieved by adding selected chemical compounds to the silica during melting. Incredible amount of accuracy is required in terms of proportions and timings. It is surprising to know that many of the particular shades are still secrets held by some glassmaking factories and not shared, even within Murano.
For example,
Aquamarine colour is formed when cupric oxide is added to the blend. We get the colour red when cuprous oxide is added to the blend, blue when cobalt oxide is added to the blend and green when iron oxide and chrome oxide are added to the blend.
This is the reason why red and ruby chandeliers are more expensive as compared to the others. There is an unimaginable variety of colours to choose from. No matter what the colour of the space is where you wish to treasure this immaculate piece of art, you are sure to be surprised by the unmatched possibility of options