Necklace from Mali made with old glass beads

Fantastic Necklace with old glass murrine called millefiori made in Venice towards the mid-800 and exported to Africa for the local market where, as well as to create jewels, were used as a bargaining chip.
From 1200 Venice produced, like other cities, glass beads and in the sixteenth century it became the most important center in Europe in the manufacture of these products. Subsequently, Netherlands and then Czechoslovakia took over. Combined with other tube-shape pearls, we find the beads with the typical floral painting design, also much sought after and appreciated almost as much as the large central rosette pearl called Chevrau with the traditional colors blue, red and white. To top it all, old silver beads handmade, probably recovered from an even more ancient necklace. The beads are inserted on a silk thread that, thanks to the nooses, allows to change the length.

Maximum length 80 cm
Central pearl 3.2 x 2 cm
Millefiori beads 4 to 3.2 cm
Diameter beads 1 cm