Painted glass refers to two different techniques of decorating glass, both more precisely known by other terms.
Firstly, and more correctly, it means
enamelled glass, normally relatively small vessels which have been painted with preparations of
vitreous enamel, and then fixed by a light firing to melt them and fuse them to the glass surface.
Secondly it refers to
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
, used for windows. Here the design is made up using sheets of coloured glass, cut to shape and held in place by lead. The painting is the final stage, typically only in black.
The paint is usually not fused to the flat glass by firing, but if it is, it is still called "stained glass".
Glass painting or glass painter might refer to either technique, but more usually enamelled glass. It may also refer to the cinematic technique of
matte painting.
Notes
References
*Osborne, Harold (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts'', 1975, OUP, {{ISBN, 0198661134
Glass production
History of glass
Glass art