**BLUE GLASS: ANCIENT TO MODERN

Blue Glass: Ancient to Modern

The chemistry behind making blue glass is complex.  The simple answer is finely powdered oxides of cobalt or copper are added to the batch.  Almost from the very beginnings of glass manufacture the color blue has been a chosen hue.  The following slide show of blue glass pieces from our collection illustrates this.  Beginning with a core-formed piece from 4^th to 6^th Century BC and ending with an example made by John Nygren from the studio glass movement of the early 1980’s.

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The Frog by John Nygren 1984

63A American Blue Pitcher 1850-1900

62A American wide mouth blue Salt 1830-1850

65A American Cobalt bowl c. 1780-1800 Allaire collection

49A American expanded-diamond salt c. 1765-1800 Allaire collection

54R Roman Marbled Blue Bottle 1st Century

17R Roman Blue Bottle 1st Century Allaire collection

26R Greek Core-formed Alabastron 4th to 6th Century BC