Antique jewelry glossary

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Millefiori

Millefiori, Italian for "1000 flowers". A style of ornamented glass made from slices of canes of coloured glass embedded in clear glass, usually in flower-like designs. The style was known in Alexandria from the 3rd century BC and in Rome in the 1st century AD, but it was so called only after it was revived and modified at Venice in the 16th century. Such millefiori slices have been used to decorate some articles of jewelry, e.g. brooches and finger rings, especially at Venice.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson