WONDERS OF ANCIENT GLASS BLOWING.
THE glass blowers of ancient Thebes are known to have been as proficient in the particular art as is the most scientific craftsman of the same trade of the present day, after a lapse of forty centuries of so-called “progress.” They were well acquainted with the art of staining glass, and are known to have produced that commodity in great profusion and perfection. Rossellini gives an illustration of a piece of stained glass, known to be 4,000 years old, which displayed artistic taste of high order, both in tint and design. In this case the color is struck through the vitrified structure, and he mentions designs struck entirely in pieces from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick, the color being perfectly incorporated with the structure of the piece, and exactly the same on both the obverse and reverse sides.—Christian Work.