In the beginning was Marietta, whose surname was Barovier, the daughter of a famous family of glassmakers on the island of Murano. It was the 15th century, and it is known that Marietta, upon the death of her father Angelo, inherited, along with her brother, the family furnace and the sheets of paper containing the recipes for composing glass colors. Marietta Barovier She became an entrepreneur and was among the first women to work in a furnace. Where she created, by mixing the white, red, and blue colors of the perforated canes of colored glass she was in charge of, pearl "rosette"“. This is it one of the first pearls to emerge from the Murano furnaces, the glass island, famous worldwide for its production of chandeliers, vases, bowls, and glasses of extraordinary beauty. But also for its pearls.
History tells us that pearls were already being produced in Murano in the 14th century, following an ancient tradition that came from the Phoenicians and the Romans. So much so that some artifacts discovered a few years ago in Alaska have led to the hypothesis that these are Venetian pearls dating back to between 1440 and 1480 (therefore before Columbus's arrival in the Americas) and arrived in those latitudes along the trade routes that started from Europe with the compass oriented towards the East. But among the ancient pearls the “rosetta” is certainly the best known, and for centuries it represented a precious commodity of exchange for the Serenissima, to be used in distant lands to exchange it for precious stones, gold, fine wood…..
It's a fascinating story that of the Venetian glass beads, of which the Murano Glass Museum which has dedicated a special section to this particular type of production. The oldest pearls, those from seven centuries ago, no longer exist. The Museum's collection is mostly represented by 19th-century pearls. In the 19th century, they were no longer mere commodities but rather valuable accessories, true jewels, prized for their technical perfection, their variety of colors, and their decorations. Produced specifically for the demands and tastes of different countries, they were destined for European markets as well as the colonial markets of Africa, India, and America. The Museum's collection is very rich, with its sample folders containing over 14 thousand pearls, fabric panels with over 2000 pieces, and then again 266 bunches (units of measurement for commercial negotiations) and again threads, threads, threads of pearls according to the different types of production and the different characteristics.
In addition to pearl "rosette"“, different production techniques have led over the centuries to the production of glass beads, very small and monochromatic, used not only to make jewelry but also for embroidery and particular compositions. And of the lampwork pearls The production of which is more recent. It dates back to the 17th century and is made by heating a glass rod under a small flame, enriching the pearl as it gradually forms with decorations and colors. A technique still used today by true master beadmakers. Behind the Venetian pearls, whether ancient or modern, there is a lot of know-how, especially feminineAnd their beauty encompasses values linked to the economy, tradition, culture, and society of the different eras in which they were produced. In addition to the know-how that motivated their creation a few years ago. inclusion in the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Glass Museum has named the section dedicated to its pearl collections “The World in a Pearl”: a world indeed. A world traversed by ancient pearls, "great travelers" used by merchants to forge friendships and trade with distant peoples. A world of women and the work of women yesterday and today. From the creativity of Marietta Barovier in the furnace to the work, mostly done at home, of the "impiraperle" or "impiraresse," the threaders of tiny glass beads. Until the first half of the last century, they strung pearls sitting on their doorsteps or in the streets, as evidenced by the many black-and-white photographs of Venice's minor cities of the time.
(Featured photo: Venetian lampwork glass beads, mid-19th century; all photos credited to A. Panini)
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