Beads thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Beads

19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These glass beads are of the kind known as ‘trade’, ‘aggry’ or, sometimes, ‘slave’ beads. They are usually associated with West Africa but were originally created in Europe, particularly Venice, Bohemia and the Netherlands. The history of trade beads dates to the 15th century when Portuguese trading ships arrived on the coast of West Africa to exploit its many resources, including gold, slaves, ivory and palm oil. At that time, beads were a major part of the currency exchanged for people and products. Over the following four centuries millions of beads were traded to Africa and by the 19th century European bead makers were producing a wide variety of designs specifically for the African trade.

Some designs were particularly popular, such as the millefiori (‘thousand flower’) form seen here, which reinvented an ancient technique from western Asia to produce colourful beads formed of many small cross-sections of multicoloured canes fused together or embedded into a matrix.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Millefiori glass
Brief description
31 glass 'trade' beads, made in Italy (Venice), 19th century, for European trade in Africa
Physical description
31 beads of opaque variegated glass (millefiori technique), of which 27 are four-sided and 4 are cylindrical.
Dimensions
  • Height: 1.6cm
Object history
Purchased (Myers Collections)
Summary
These glass beads are of the kind known as ‘trade’, ‘aggry’ or, sometimes, ‘slave’ beads. They are usually associated with West Africa but were originally created in Europe, particularly Venice, Bohemia and the Netherlands. The history of trade beads dates to the 15th century when Portuguese trading ships arrived on the coast of West Africa to exploit its many resources, including gold, slaves, ivory and palm oil. At that time, beads were a major part of the currency exchanged for people and products. Over the following four centuries millions of beads were traded to Africa and by the 19th century European bead makers were producing a wide variety of designs specifically for the African trade.

Some designs were particularly popular, such as the millefiori (‘thousand flower’) form seen here, which reinvented an ancient technique from western Asia to produce colourful beads formed of many small cross-sections of multicoloured canes fused together or embedded into a matrix.
Collection
Accession number
374-1900

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Record createdJanuary 22, 1999
Record URL
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