Glass colored by glass: Review of the pick-up decoration in early modern Europe

This paper provides an overview of an important glass decorative technique of the Renaissance: the pick-up decoration, including millefiori and splashed technique. Different subjects of investigation are linked: I) history and nomenclature, II) production technique, III) a survey of literature on archaeological findings, and IV) chemical composition. The results of an exhaustive survey on available data concerning the archaeological contexts where glass fragments decorated with this technique were found are presented, in order to establish the possibility of the use of decorative patterns as an indicator of provenance. This work also proposes a uniformed nomenclature to be applied to pick-up techniques. Comparing the artefacts that were found in archaeological contexts with the objects displayed in museums one can note that the first ones do not follow the same trend than the last, either in forms or in colours’ selection. So far, Portugal is the country with more studied archaeological contexts where glass fragments decorated with this technique were uncovered and different and unique patterns for murrine were identified. This work brings new and exciting insights about the production and trading of glass with pick-up decoration in Europe during the Renaissance period.