Chinese Glass Identification Guide + Gallery
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This section of the encyclopaedia is for Chinese glass, including glass made in Taiwan. There is a surprising amount of vintage glassware, found in the UK and elsewhere, that is often mistaken for Italian/Murano glass, or Scandinavian glass, but was in fact made in China. There is also a vast amount of modern glass produced in China, using popular Murano glassmaking techniques such as sommerso, which can easily be mistaken for, and sometimes purposefully misdescribed as, Murano glass. This Murano style, Chinese made glass used to be quite easy to spot to the experienced collector or dealer, as they contained many production flaws, and often certain features could give them away, such as a frosted, unpolished base, compared to the shiny, highly polished base found on most genuine Murano glass. However in more recent years, the quality of some of these items have improved greatly, and it can be very difficult to spot the difference. This guide aims to help with the identification of Chinese glass.
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Modern Chinese Glass
Shown here is glassware made in China in more recent, modern times, i.e. after the year 2000. Many of the items listed here can be found, or at one time could be found, on the Chinese trade website alibaba.com. We may refer to these listings where possible to confirm Chinese origin, but please note these links may become broken over time as listings on the Alibaba site are ended, or products are discontinued.
Other Modern Chinese Glass
A blue and amber sommerso glass bird sculpture. Made in China, sold and labelled by Shudehill Giftware.
A blue sommerso glass whale or fish sculpture. Made in China.
A black and white striped glass dog sculpture. Made in China, and sold by Crystal Clear Collectables. Items from this range are very often accidentally or purposefully wrongly described as "designed by Dino Martens for Aureliano Toso".
A black, grey and clear bubbly fumato glass chicken sculpture. Made in China, still bears the "Made in China" import label, and the dull frosted base finish is typical of Chinese production.
A pink, green and clear glass vase, made in China. The same design can be found with a label that reads "Pier 1, China".
Reference: [click here].
A blue, green and amber "pâte de verre" / "liuli" style glass Chinese dragon sculpture. Made in China, by Xia Shi Liu Li, signed and boxed, with leaflet.
View more Chinese Glass examples in our Glass Reference Database
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Chinese Glass on eBay UK
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Reference Websites
www.glasspheme.com - Interesting article on Chinese made sommerso teardrop paperweights being sold as Murano.