Finding the necessary elements at hand, or being supplied with them from a distance, they made use of them at hazard, and without being too certain of obtaining the effects they sought.

Many of their most harmonious combinations were due to accident, and they could not reproduce them at will.

The masses which they obtained by these unscientific means were nevertheless of very considerable dimensions.

The classic authors tell of stelae, sarcophagi, and columns made in one piece.
Ordinarily, however, glass was used only for small objects, and, above all, for counterfeiting precious stones.

However cheaply they may have been sold in the Egyptian market, these small objects were not accessible to all the world.