Pendant of Phoenician culture, 1st century BC.

Pendant of Phoenician culture, 1st century BC.
Vitreous paste and gold.
Can not be exported outside Spain.
Measurements: 2 cm (diameter).

Pendant for the evil eye, coated in gold with vitreous paste soul. The piece is made with vitreous paste. The technique of the core appears in Mesopotamia in tone to 1500 BC, and enjoys a first flowering in Egypt between 1500 and 1200 BC. A second flourishing will take place throughout the Mediterranean between the 6th and 1st centuries B.C. It will be the most used technique until the discovery of blown glass in Roman times, when it will disappear definitively. It consists of preparing the mass by putting the different substances in a crucible, where they would be heated until they melted together. Then allowed to cool and scrape the surface, taking advantage of only the center is where the glass is purer. This process is repeated several times until a glassy paste as pure as possible. Then a core is formed with the approximate shape of the desired piece, with a mixture of clay, manure and straw, and is punctured at the end of a rod. This core is then coated with glass by dipping it in the crucible or, for better results, by covering it with hot glass cords wound around it. To smooth it, the piece was rolled on a flat surface.