When my wife and I were in New Orleans some years back, one of the most fascinating shops we visited in the French Quarter was a mirror shop. For the most part it contained mirrors from estate sales. They included some of the most ornate frames. It was strange being in a shop where your reflection seemed to go on forever. There was even a huge mirror that sat on the floor at an angle so that the top would not brush up against the ceiling of the store. My wife and I spoke with the proprietor about this unusual collection of mirrors, and most seemed to have their own unique story.
In one of my very old editions of the Britannica was this about “The Fame of Venetian Glass.” This writer said, “During the Middle Ages no place in the world could match Venice for its glassware. One reason for the city’s supremacy was the abundance of excellent sand and alkaline sea plants (for making soda ash). Because the roaring furnaces in the glassmakers’ shops caused great risk of setting fire to the city, the glassmaking industry was transferred to the near-by island of Murano. In 1495 the glassmakers’ shops formed a magnificent street a mile long. The glassmakers’ guilds were rich and powerful.
“Another reason for moving the industry to Murano was to segregate the glassworkers and keep their processes secret. The guilds guarded the secrets of glass manufacture jealously, and no stranger was allowed to learn the art. Any craftsman carrying his knowledge to another country was followed and ordered back to Venice. If he refused to return, his relatives were imprisoned. If he still refused, someone was sent to kill him. Once a wandering Venetian glassmaker was followed to Germany, where he was stabbed with a dagger bearing the word, ‘Traitor.’”
It seems they took their business very, very seriously.
“For centuries Venetian glass enjoyed a monopoly as a commercial product. Venice exported mirrors, goblets, and cups all over the known world. The great traveler, Marco Polo, encouraged his fellow Venetians to manufacture quantities of glass beads for trade with eastern Asia. Venetian vases and cups were presents fit for a king. Glass dishes replaced gold services on the tables of the wealthy. Venetian artists produced glass in a wide range of lovely colors. The blowers created delicate shapes and patterns of surpassing beauty. Their ‘glass lace’ was made of twisted rods of opaque white and crystal-clear glass.”
Some lines later…
“In 1665, 20 Venetian glassmakers were tempted away by the French statesman, Jean Baptiste Colbert. He took them to Paris, France. There they set up a factory for blowing and silvering mirrors. The famous Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, France, was made by them.”
My wife has relatives who live just outside Venice. I must ask them if they have heard any of these stories.
Here’s an interesting superstition concerning mirrors. If you break one you’re supposed to wash the broken pieces in a stream that runs south. This way the bad luck is washed away. You could also bury the broken pieces deep in the earth.
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Don Jackson
lovers and other starngers is like a warm cup of tea after along day from work and home… thank you don jackson!
- Liza