Beautiful classic large trade bead with chevron patterned canes perfectly applied 40x14mm. Cut on a slight angle so perfect for bracelet or necklace focal.
These would be from the height of the Venetian trade in the late 1800s
Trade beads almost always have holes big enough for 2mm leather cords
Millefiori, the Italian name for these colorful beads, means 1000 flowers
The beads are decorated with slices of glass canes created either bundling very thin glass tubes together to form the pattern, then fusing them, or encasing round or chevron pattern canes in concentric layers of different colored glass.
The canes are sliced into murrini, which are laid out on a hot surface and the semi-molten glass cores of the beads are rolled over them, picking up the slices.
Made in Venice, Italy for the African trade late-1800s
From the collection of Joyce Diamanti, bead researcher, writer and educator
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