Part I: Ancient Chinese Glass
Ancient Chinese glass means any glass made in China before the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). In Chinese art history, glass never took the spotlight like ceramics or metalwork did. That’s why it shows up rarely in digs and old records. That rarity also speaks to how uncommon glass was in China back then. Chinese writings hint that glass might have been made as early as the 5th century CE, but the oldest glass pieces we’ve found date back to the Warring States period (475-221 BCE).
When Did China Start Making Glass?
China began making its own glass much later than places like Mesopotamia, Egypt, or India. The first glass items came from abroad, arriving during the late Spring and Autumn to early Warring States era, around the early 5th century BCE. These early imports were colorful “eye beads,” and they spurred Chinese craftsmen to start making their own glass beads.
The First Glass Objects Found in China
The oldest glass bits found in China are polychrome “eye beads” or “dragonfly-eyed beads.” These show up in graves from the late Spring and Autumn through early Western Han periods, around the early 5th century BCE to early 3rd century BCE.
These beads usually have a one-color base overlaid with rings of different colors. From the side, those layered rings look like eyes; hence their name.
This style really took off first in the Near East about 1500 BCE and later spread to the Mediterranean. Eye beads dropped out of fashion in Chinese burials when the Qin and Han armies took over the Chu kingdom in the late 3rd century BCE, which likely ended their production.
Glass Imitating Jade in Warring States and Han China
During the Warring States and Han periods, Chinese craftsmen noticed that glass looked a lot like jade. They started making opaque glass items in green, pale green, or milky-white shades to copy jade pieces. These included ritual bi disks, parts of glass burial suits called “glass garments,” sword fittings, vessels, and more.. These glass pieces often share shapes and designs with jade versions, showing they stepped in as cheaper alternatives.
Why This Matters in Chinese Art History
Glass in China didn’t become a major art form. Even so, these early glass pieces tell us three important things. First, glass shows up in Chinese crafts much later than in the West and South Asia. Second, glass was mostly a luxury item - rare and prized. Third, when used, it often mimicked materials or styles the Chinese already highly valued, like jade. These patterns say a lot about trade, tech exchange, and taste in ancient China.
Early Chinese Glass: Warring States to Han Dynasty
The era between the late Warring States period and the Han dynasty set the stage for early glasswork in China. Most surviving glass objects come from tomb digs, which gives us solid dates and historical context. During this time, artisans focused on two main types of glass: colorful polychrome eye beads and single‑color funerary items.
Glass Bi Disks: Ceramic Ritual Objects in Monochrome Glass
Bi disks are ancient ritual rings, flat with a hole in the center. Originally carved from nephrite during the late Neolithic era, they became common burial items in the 3rd millennium BCE, typically placed on or near the deceased’s head. Glass-made bi disks became widespread during the Warring States era, especially in the Chu kingdom.
These disks measure roughly 7.9 to 9.4 cm across and closely mirror the style of stone versions, often featuring grain or cloud patterns on one side - motifs usually seen in jade. Archaeologists find them in modest tombs, not elite burials. That suggests glass versions were popular, budget-friendly alternatives to esteemed jade bi disks.
Glass Plaques and the Evolution of Funeral Suits
Glass plaques from burial suits, sometimes called “glass garments,” imitate jade burial suits. Excavations of late Western Han wooden chamber tombs have unveiled rectangular glass plaques, often with holes at each corner. These were clearly meant to be tied together or sewn into fabric to form a protective suit. Other plaques come in circular, triangular, or rhomboidal shapes and usually show molded designs. The fact that each shape aligns with a jade equivalent highlights that glass burial suits were cheaper substitutes for expensive jade ones.
The First Glass Vessels in Han Dynasty Tombs
Glass vessels start showing up in Western Han burials, though they remain rare. Only two known tombs contain glass tableware. In 128 BCE, the tomb of Liu Dao, the Prince of Chu in Xuzhou, held 16 light-green cylindrical cups. In 113 BCE, Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, buried at Mancheng, had two shallow, double-handled cups and a plate. These pieces follow traditional Chinese vessel styles, but instead of lacquer or ceramic, they’re made from lead‑barium glass; sometimes jade versions also existed. Crafting these vessels involved mold casting in lead‑barium glass. However, this art faded after the Han dynasty ended in CE 220. Glass vessel production didn’t pick up again until the 4th and 5th centuries CE. Notably, no mold-cast glass vessels appear in tombs from the Three Kingdoms period.
Glass in the Han Dynasty: A Turning Point (206 BC–220 CE)
During the Han dynasty, glass use in China branched out well beyond beads. Around 206 BCE, craftsmen began casting glass into sacred forms like ritual bi‑disks and other ceremonial items. They used molds, a big shift that helped create more diverse shapes (and not just beads).
Archaeologists have found that these Han‑period glasses are chemically different from the imported Western Asia types. They’re rich in lead and barium oxide, unlike the soda‑lime‑silica glass common in Mesopotamia and Western Asia.
This lead–barium recipe faded after 220 CE, and local glass production stalls until it picks back up in the 4th and 5th centuries CE.
Chemical Fingerprints: Potash, Lead–Barium, Soda
It’s now clear that glassmaking in China began around the late Spring and Autumn to early Warring States era (5th‑century BCE). Chemists analyzing ancient fragments have identified three glass types in China: potash‑lime, plain potash, and lead–barium. Of these, the lead–barium type dominated China’s early glass era.
During the Warring States through Han periods, some glass still came from abroad, particularly eye beads from Mesopotamia. Those imports likely sparked the first Chinese attempts at glassmaking. But the real difference? Chinese-made beads and objects contain high levels of lead and barium, which is completely different from the foreign glass.
High Lead & Barium: What Chinese Glass Was Made Of
Chinese lead–barium glasses typically include 5-15% barium oxide (BaO), paired with high lead oxide (PbO). Experts think they used witherite, a barium carbonate mineral, to include barium deliberately.
Barium may have served several functions: lowering the melting point (making glass easier to work), strengthening it against water damage, or making it opaque. Scans of old shards have shown that opacity comes from tiny barium disilicate crystals suspended in the glass. That cloudiness made the glass look like jade.
Lead–Barium Glass: China’s Own Version
Scholars believe lead–barium glass first appeared in China during the late Warring States, and it's often seen as a Chinese invention. Its chemical signature stayed the same right through the end of the Han. Afterward, it vanished - glass production paused until centuries later.
Why the Chemistry Matters
That lead‑barium mix shows this glass was mainly decorative or ritual, not practical. Lead-barium glass is brittle - it cracks easily and won’t hold hot liquids. That flaw explains why there are no mass‑produced vessels like you’d see in Western glass traditions. It couldn’t compete with China’s ceramics or metalware.
Experts found only a few glass cups buried in royal Han tombs; for instance, Prince Liu Sheng’s tomb (113 BCE) and Prince Liu Dao’s tomb (128 BCE). Even then, the cups had bubbles and flaws that showed their lower quality compared to Western glass.
Legacy and Decline
By around 220 CE, the lead–barium glass tradition ended. Glassmaking went silent for a couple centuries, returning in the 4th and 5th centuries with different recipes. Over time, formulas changed, adding more lead, using soda and calcium, setting the stage for Tang‑era glass crafts.
Part II: What Is Peking Glass?
Peking glass, sometimes called Kangxi Glass, Qianlong Glass, or Tao Liao Ping, began in 18th‑century Beijing, known as “Peking” in old European texts. It started as material for glass snuff bottles but later spread to vases, bowls, and decorative objects. Craftspeople in China still make it today.
Origins in the Qing Dynasty
This style took shape under the Qing dynasty in the 1700s. China had a long glass‑making history, but when Jesuit missionaries brought European, particularly Italian, glass‑making techniques in the 1600s, things changed.
The Kangxi Emperor set up an imperial glass workshop in 1696 inside the Forbidden City. That workshop introduced new methods and recipes for glass. German Jesuit Kilian Stumpf trained local craftsmen and improved kiln designs and color formulas.
Why Peking Glass Gained Popularity
The new techniques let artisans imitate jade and other prized stones in glass form. So they began making snuff bottles, vases, and smaller pieces that looked like harder materials. Over time, artisans outside the imperial workshop learned it and adopted the craft.
Peak During the Qianlong Reign
The golden era of Peking glass came under the Qianlong Emperor in the mid-1700s. After that, it lost some popularity in the 19th century but never disappeared. Production continued through the Republican period and still continues today.
How It’s Made
Peking glass is a type of overlay carved glass, much like cameo glass. The process goes like this: First, a glassblower forms the base shape. Then it’s dipped in molten glass several times to build up colored layers. After cooling, artisans carve away the outer layers to reveal a design in contrasting colors.
Many pieces feature a bright yellow outer layer, called “Imperial Yellow”, because yellow symbolized the Qing imperial family.
Spread Beyond China
By the late 1800s, Czechoslovak glassmakers were copying Peking glass techniques to make beads for costume jewelry.
