Orgins

Coloured glass has been produced since ancient times. Both the Egyptians and the Romans excelled at the manufacture of small coloured glass objects. The British Museum holds two of the finest Roman pieces, the Lycurgus Cup, which is a murky mustard colour but glows purple-red to transmitted light, and the Portland vase which is midnight blue, with a carved white overlay.
In Early Christian churches of the 4th and 5th centuries there are many remaining windows which are filled with ornate patterns of thinly-sliced alabaster set into wooden frames, giving a stained-glass like effect. Evidence of stained glass windows in churches and monasteries within Britain can be found as early as the 7th century. Benedict Biscop’s monasteries in Monkwearmouth and Jarrow have revealed hundreds of pieces of coloured glass and lead from as early as 680 CE.[1] Stained glass was also used by Islamic architects in Southwest Asia by the 8th century, when the alchemist Geber, in Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna, gives 46 original recipes for producing coloured glass and describes the production of cutting glass into artificial gemstones.