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Hello Grady, I present this information very logically in the articles I wrote for Ornament (1982 and 1983), and for The Glass Trade Bead Conference (1983), in which I discussed the modern origins of millefiori work and chevron (rosetta) beadmaking. "Chevron" is an English name promoted around 1881 by John Brent. He referred to the beads as "glass beads with a chevron pattern." To be specific, he said these beads had been cut or faceted, and that these facets reveal the interior layers of the bead/cane. And the pattern SEEN ON ANY PARTICULAR FACET, was a "chevron pattern." The name was broadened to include the rounded cutting of beads, routinely practiced since the early 20th C. (but now presenting a band of zigzags on an ellipsoidal or spheroidal bead). The Italian name for this family of beads is "rosetta" (plural "rosette"--a three syllable word). The implication of the Italian names suggests the makers or admirers of this work thought the patterns looked like flowers. A "rose" is a desirable flower, and stands as the generic for any "floral" reference. There is a very long tradition in the art world of speaking of rounded or circular motifs as "rosettes" (a two-syllable French-derived name). Italians also called their early millefiori work "rosette" (three syllables)--making it clear that they were describing the CANES used for both types of production. Canes for rosetta work, as made at Venice, typically divide into two molded groups—these being those that are star-molded (having points) and those that are flower-molded (having petals of other shapes). In addition, Venetians made other types of canes and cane patterns, but they are in the minority compared to typical molded canes—and many of these (particularly composite canes) COPY molded canes. This is demonstrated in my article here at BC.N. Back to rosetta beads. The family name encompasses all drawn beads that have been composed from layered canes with internally molded patterns. The majority of these are star patterns—but there are also FLORAL rosetta beads, and even a few distinct non-molded-layered-cane beads that have to be considered. So it goes like this: Rosetta beads are derived from hollow canes that have molded interior layers (and may or may not have other features as well). Star-patterned rosetta beads feature molded starry patterns. Star beads that are ground on the ends to reveal inner layers are called "chevron beads" (in English). A star bead that is not faceted, ground, or abraded (to reveal inner layers) is NOT a "chevron bead." (It has NO "chevrons"!) It is a "star bead." There are lots of varieties of these beads, from over a nearly 600-year period. When we are confronted with a multilayered drawn bead that has a molded pattern, but that pattern is floral, I prefer to refer to these as "rosetta beads" (respecting the original intent of the name). And when such beads are cut to reveal inner layers, these patterns are not "chevrons," but rather are waves or scallops—and I refer to the beads as "scallop beads." Early English-speaking authors devised the names "star bead" and "star bead glass" for what are commonly called Venetian "chevron" and "millefiori" beads (and other artifacts composed from these canes). Eisen, in particular, recognized very early that the technique of making these canes depended upon using a star-shaped mold to impress the pattern into the gather of glass, during cane-making. And he understood that this was an important departure from previous methods of making pictorial or figural canes. This history is reasonably well-documented (considering what is known about historical sources—weeding-out the crackpots), and logically and accurately presented by me many times in published articles and online expositions. God willing, I will someday finish my book on chevron beads, and fully document and present this research that has so far taken some twenty-nine years of my career. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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