Opalescent glass is dichroic, having different colors in reflected ...
... and transmitted light. This particular example shows why the best opalescent glass is described as "fiery opalescent."
Reflecting Antiquity: Modern Glass Inspired by Ancient Rome. David Whitehouse.The Corning Museum of Glass, 2007. |
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Catalog of a recent exhibition at Corning that featured perhaps the greatest surviving example of dichroic glass, the Rothschild Lycurgus Cup. | |
Glass of the Alchemists: Lead Crystal - Gold Ruby, 1650 - 1750. Dedo von Kerssenbrok-Krosigk. The Corning Museum of Glass, June 27, 2008 - January 4, 2009. |
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This exhibition interpreted the late 17th Century appearance of new colors of glass as the result of experiments by alchemists to recreate or simulate rare, naturally occuring stones. Among these was opal glass, which was represented in the exhibition by a panel-cut tumbler, catalog number 107. The catalog mentions a flask made of opal glass that can be dated to about 1574. |