Glass-working was practised in Egypt before the Exodus of the
children of Israel from that land, three thousand five hundred years
ago. At Beni Hassan, are two paintings, representing Glass-blowers
at work (
see p.
1);
and from the hieroglyphics accompanying them, they are shown to have been
executed in the reign of the first Osirtasen, at the early date above
mentioned. In the same age, images of
glazed pottery were common;
proving the mode of fusing, and the proper proportions of the ingredients
for making Glass, to have been then known. Lastly, Sir J. G. Wilkinson
adduces the instance of a glass bead, about three-quarters of an inch in
diameter, and of the same specific gravity as our crown Glass; this relic
Captain Hervey found at Thebes, and its date is proved by its bearing,
in hieroglyphic characters, the name of a monarch who lived fifteen
hundred years before Christ.* Such was the skill of the Egyptians in
lass-making, that they, successfully counterfeited the amethyst and
other precious stones worn as ornaments for the person. Winckelmann,
a high authority, is of opinion that Glass was employed more frequently
in ancient than in modern times; it was used by the Egyptians even for
coffins;† they also employed it not only for drinking vessels, but
for Mosaic work, the figures of deities, and sacred emblems, in which they
attained excellent workmanship, and surprising brilliancy of colour.
