LaunchPad: Ancient Glassmaking—The Roman Mold-Blown Technique

Beginning in the 1st century A.D., Roman glassmakers determined that blown-glass vessels could be mass-produced using molds. This method of production, which allowed glass workshops to produce multiples of popular designs, was employed for centuries thereafter in the Roman and Byzantine empires. In this video, the Roman Glassmakers, Mark Taylor and Robert Hill, demonstrate the ancient Roman method of producing a mold-blown glass jug, similar to the Art Institute of Chicago's Pilgrim Jug, using a clay mold.

This video was produced with the generous support of a Long Range Fund grant provided by the Community Associates of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was created for LaunchPad, a program of digital interpretive materials that supplement the viewing of works of art on display in the Art Institute of Chicago's galleries.