bead

Islamic glassmaking built upon many of the Romans’ techniques and motifs. Islamic glass beads represent what is considered to be the final significant period of the beadmaking tradition that began in Western Asia in the second millennium B.C. Glassmakers in the Islamic world created masterpieces that included many innovative and distinctive forms of decoration. Beads with trails, such as these, were a continuation of a Roman technique, but the color, scale, and form were characteristic of the Islamic style. Trailed decoration is well known in Islamic glass. Trails were inlaid into the glass and then tooled to create patterns in feathered or geometric forms. These beads also utilize mosaic cane slices for eye motifs. The shapes of the beads with attached tubes can also be seen in larger Islamic pendants called Tawiz, which were usually made of metal or stone. They are thought to have held small pieces of paper with prayers or passages from the Qur’an that would protect the wearer from evil.