bead

Some of the myriad millefiori beads produced by the Venetians included designs that were modeled after ancient Roman beads. The use of only a few scattered cane slices as the decorative motif has been seen since Roman times. During the Islamic period, individual mosaic cane slices were often employed to create eye motifs, while beadmakers also crafted mosaic beads by covering a matrix in cane slices. Islamic beads were probably eye beads, in the sense that the eyes were thought to provide protection against or to deflect the “evil eye.” It is unlikely that the Venetians were making beads for their apotropaic quality, but they may have been so employed by the cultures to which they were traded, especially this version with isolated murrine. While this example seems to recall the ancient history of the mosaic technique and style, it is wholly modern in its use of a curved shape of bead, which is not found in ancient predecessors. The curved shape was probably an invention of 19th- or 20thcentury Venetians to increase their repertoire of mosaic and millefiori styles.