Glass isn't as fragile as you think

Glass - very brittle, very fragile.  Yes?  Not necessarily.

Glass is very brittle.  And it cannot be flexed.  But it is stronger than you would think.

My Marlie portrait was hung via a screw through the chain.  So when the connector broke, the portrait didn't fall.  I took it down and soldered on a new eyelet.  I reattached the same brass chain.

I screwed through the chain, as before.

And the chain split.

The portrait went crashing down, first hitting the window sill, the sliding behind the upholstered bench to land on edge on the tile floor.

Unbroken.  Uncracked.

How hard did it hit?  Well, this is the damage done to the drywall, exposing the tin beneath it.  What doesn't show well in this photo is that the tin underlay is dented.

And this is the undamaged portrait.

I was surprised, and grateful