Trade Beads

Venetian artists made these rare, seven-layer beads by gathering multiple shades of molten glass into hollow, ball-like forms; stretching those forms into long rods, or “canes”; then cutting and polishing sections of the canes into beads. Spanish colonizers brought these dazzling glassworks as items of trade to South America. Once Europeans introduced manufactured glass to the Americas, its production in this hemisphere flourished. These beads and other objects in this case represent the beauty and versatility of the glass medium, which led to innovative approaches to functional and decorative wares.