Welcome to the Glass Age

155 gathered for a variety of purposes. In the form of tableware, drinking glass, containers, windowpanes, personal ornaments, optical instruments, works of art, or scientific devices glass objects are spread in every kind of museum. A variety of factors contributed to the birth of glass museums and collections. The Glass Cabinet at the Rosemborg Castle in Copenhagen (DK), installed in 1714 and regarded as the first glass museum in the world, originated from a collection of precious Venetian glass gifted to the King of Denmark in 1709. Exquisite glass vessels are exhibited in museums of decorative arts, originally created with the intention to improve the quality of national craft and industry by providing and showing selected Figure 10.2. Seven Roman Vessels (1 st century CE). Blown. Blue-green glass. Source: CMoG 77.1.2 A-G. Image licensed by The Corning Museum of Glass , Corning, NY (www.cmog.org ) under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Figure 10.3. Murano Glass Museum. Diamond-point engraved and filigree glasses. Source: © Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia - Museo del Vetro di Murano - Archivio Fotografico. Figure 10.4. A. Palazzo Madama, Turin. Glass gallery. Islamic glass. Source: Paloma Pastor - ICOM Glass. © Fondazione Torino Musei.