By the end of the 15th century, most of the typically Venetian glassmaking techniques had already been developed and perfected. Enameling and gilding, calcedonio, filigrana and millefiori and a perfectly clear "cristallo" were all used to create glass of great visual variety, ranging from intricate network patterns to imitation of semi-precious stones and ethereal, very light, transparent objects.

It was these qualities, together with the elegance of design, that meant that Venetian glass was unsurpassed anywhere in the world throughout the 15th, 16th and 1 7th centuries and in great demand by the biggest levels of society.
It was only towards the end of the 17th century that this supremacy came to an end.
European taste had changed, and much heavier English lead-glass and Bohemian glass were much better suited to the new taste for robust shapes and engraved decoration.
This caused a sharp decline in glassmaking in Venice during the 18th century.

The only really successful and originally Venetian products of that period are exuberantly ornate and colorful chandeliers in the second half of the 19th century a second period of resurgence began, closely related to the historicistic tendencies prevalent at that time in many European countries.
Venetian glassmakers revived the styles of their ancestors of the 15th to 17th centuries. A glass museum was established in 1861 affiliated with a school of design, where glassmakers could study old specimens of Venetian glass. Not only were more or less exact copies of old glasses made during this period, but also highly original 19th-century adaptations, which show a love of color combinations and the juxtaposition of different techniques. Specialist chemists employed by the major glasshouses dramatically extended the range of colors available. it was during this period that the technical basis was laid that led to the most original and technically perfect products of 2Oth century Murano glass.
From a book of Reino Liefkes Glass
Department Curator Victoria and Albert Museum.