Ancient black and white round folded bead with red collar, 31x36mm
From the Islamic period of glass bead making about 8th to 12th century
Ancient Syria is a likely origin for this bead
The folded glass bead technique was originally invented during the Early Islamic Period (about 700 AD) to imitate the black and white bands of popular natural agate beads.
Folded beads continued to be wildly popular until around 1400 AD when the European glass makers (Venetian and others) began dominating the field.
The technique was lost, but contemporary artists have been working to rediscover it. First, Jamey Allen recreated it in Fimo, then Tom Holland mastered it in glass.
In brief, it involves a multi-step process in which a ring of patterned glass is folded in on itself with the result that the two sides (on both front and back) of the bead mirror each other.
Folded beads are often tabular, but also appear in round, and other shapes.
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