Ancient Faience from Persia (Iran), 18-inch Strand with Many Small Beads, Good TQ Color
SKU: ORS-199
Sale price
$445.00
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Description
- Ancient Iranian (Persian) faience, 18-inch long strand with more than 70 beads in a wide range of interesting and complex small shapes. Most of the small beads retain their turquoise color. In addition there are two large beads and a conical pendant that might have been a seal or stamp.
- Made around 100 BC to 100 AD probably in or near Qom in Iran, where faience is still produced today as "donkey beads" to protect livestock from the "evil eye"
- Faience, invented as early as 5000 BC, is the ancestor of glass. It was made from ground up quartz (aka sand), alkali, mineral colorants, especially copper, and water. This mixture was formed into beads and fired to the point that it just fused. Furnaces that could generate temperatures to actually make glass had not been invented yet. During the fusing process a surface glaze was formed (which is actually the earliest from of glass) usually in turquoise or blue. Other colors were developed later. The inner part of faience beads or other objects remained only partially fused.
- Ancient faience making was important in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia (now Iraq w/ parts of Syria and Turkey) and Persia (Iran today).
- I am not an expert on ancient glass beads. I've gathered as much material as I can from what I believe are reliable sources, but I always welcome additional info or corrections from experts who know more than I do.