Medieval and Postmedieval Glass

This essay investigates the role of the glass business in shaping the identity of glassmakers in Renaissance Venice. First, it re-examines the debated issue of secretiveness, highlighting the role played by immigration and emigration, and stressing how mobility affected the intersection between secrets and the creation of a distinctive identity. It then focuses on trade, examining the role played by the Venetian high political bodies in protecting a manufacturing that became a matter of state. It argues that thanks to government protection the participation of glass entrepreneurs in commerce did not need any formal branding, yet only to be recognized as “Venetian.” Lastly, the case study of the Bortolussi family shows the strategies of those glassmakers who tried to ascend to a superior social status, that of Venetian “cittadini originari.”

The book’s three sections reflect modern approach to archaeology and glass studies. The first presents the results of archaeological excavations, archive studies and the processing of find assemblages connected with northwest Bohemia. The second section is devoted to glassworks, furnaces and the relevant equipment, their identification in the field and historical evidence of their operation. The third section then presents the elegance and colour of glass products, the typology and chronology of a broad spectrum of artefacts and the results of their scientific analyses. The chronological framework of the book stretches from the La Tène period in the 2nd and 1st century BC up to the 20th century and the geographic frame is central and eastern Europe with excursions to the Mediterranean and Near East. The publication documents the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to modern archaeological research, especially in the study of glass and glassmaking. Both the work with archaeological and historical sources, including iconography and heraldry, and archaeometric and technological issues and the application of dendrochronology and magnetometry are presented

This article highlights some special loose marble finds from Dutch soil (Iron Age-present), including a unique glass marble from the 18th century.

In dit artikel worden enkele bijzondere losse knikkervondsten uit Nederlandse bodem belicht (ijzertijd-heden), waaronder een unieke glazen knikker uit de 18de eeuw.

In 2015 excavations in Pereyaslavl Ryazansky (now Ryazan) yielded a rare find from the layers dating to the second half of the 12th – early 14th centuries. It is a raised border of a glass beaker shaped as a drinking glass and decorated with golden figures of small fish encircled with a red line. The researchers believe that the beaker was imported from the Near East, probably, Syria. Such figures of small fish serve as a dating attribute of the second half of the 13th–14th centurys. Fragments of beaker decorated with figures of fish had been found in Pereyaslavl Ryazansky before. Interestingly, this item indicating a high status of its owner was found in 2015 on the periphery of the future capital of the Ryazan Principality.

Q uesto intervento mira a fornire una pano-ramica del collezionismo nord italiano dei rami smaltati nel XIX secolo, nella speranza che questa sintesi possa essere una traccia per un approfondimento futuro e fornisca utili suggerimenti metodologici. Complementare a questo scritto è il contributo dedicato da Francesca Tasso all'ultimo trentennio del XIX secolo a Milano, dato il ruolo centrale che la città ebbe nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento per il collezionismo italiano delle arti decorative. L'indagine ha compreso anche uno spoglio dei cataloghi d'asta del XIX secolo e dei primi decenni del XX secolo, al fine di ampliare l'esemplare Corpus del patrimonio di questi oggetti nelle collezioni pubbliche frutto della ricerca del dipartimento oggetti d'arte del Museo del Louvre. La più antica attestazione di rami smaltati in una collezione pubblica italiana risale al 1751 quando «tre fiaschette e due tazze con un suo coperchio di rame smaltato; una brocca il tutto di rame smaltato di color turchino, verde e bianco» sono registrate nell'inventario delle collezioni estensi di Modena, e sono riconoscibili nelle due piccole fiasche (inv. 2574-2575; corpus 242-243) e due zuppiere (inv. 2572-2573) e un piatto sotto zuppiera (inv. 2572, corpus 186-191) della Galleria Estense di Modena (fig. 1a-b) 1. Sebbene non siano rintracciabili negli inventari quattrocenteschi, è altamente probabile che questi pezzi facessero parte di un lussuoso servizio da tavola, sicuramente più ampio, destinato nella seconda metà del Quattrocento alla corte estense di Ferrara, già avvezza sotto la signoria di Lionello d'Este (1407-1450) ad arricchire il proprio guardaroba con gioielli e vasellame decorati in smalto traslucido 2. I rami estensi, in un eccezionale stato di conservazione, documentano un utilizzo di questi oggetti, anche solo con la funzione di arredo, nella ricercata scenografia dei conviti principeschi, peraltro non solo in Italia 3. Le evidenti assonanze di veste decorativa e formale con le più sontuose suppellettili in argento e smalto traslucido assicuravano a questi oggetti, meno costosi ma altrettanto sontuosi, una fortuna presso le corti: in futuro andrebbe quindi verificata meglio la loro presenza negli antichi inventari delle signorie della penisola. Scorrendo l'enorme elenco dei beni dei duchi Gonzaga di Mantova redatto nel 1627 e recentemente edito, per esempio, i servizi da tavola sono solo divisi tra «robe dorate» e «robe non dorate»: le descrizioni troppo sommarie non consentono alcuna identificazione, mentre nel più accurato inventario della Libreria (una sorta di Wunderkammer creata da Ferdinando e Vicenzo I Gonzaga), accanto a otto vasi di alabastro, è presente un «vaso in rame smaltato di vari colori» che potrebbe essere riferibile alla nostra tipologia 4. I rami smaltati non sembrano aver appassionato invece i signori di Firenze, i Medici, dato che nessun oggetto di questo tipo è oggi presente nel Museo degli Argenti, raccolta che riunisce gli oggetti di arte decorativa quattrocenteschi e cinquecenteschi della dinastia cittadina. Inoltre, dai controlli di Spallanzani e Riccardo Gennaioli, che qui ringrazio, non risultano rami smaltati bianchi blu e verdi descritti nei vari inventari medicei. Eppure in città questi oggetti circolavano, dato che nel 1484, in occasione di un matrimonio fra due famiglie fiorentine, vengono commissionati dei piatti in questa tecnica 5. Un altro filone di ricerca che potrebbe in futuro risultare molto fruttuoso sarebbe l'esplorazione dei tesori ecclesiastici e dei musei relativi, dato che originariamente questa tecnica venne utilizzata anche per decorare oggetti liturgici 6. Tra gli oggetti di destinazione sacra ancora di proprietà della chiesa Il collezionismo dei rami smaltati detti veneziani e la recezione della storiografia francese in Italia nel XIX secolo L AV I N I A M. G A L L I

In the summer of 2020 an archaeological investigation in the rear walled garden of The Old Vicarage  at, Olney (Bucks) revealed a probable late 17th to early 18th century tanyard.  The discovery was made during a fairly small area construction project.

Initial historic interest in the site was two-fold. The building lies within the heart of the historic market town, the postulated focus of pre-Conquest settlement, between the market place and the parish church. Erected in 1767, the house is renowned as the home of the reformed slaver, Rev. John Newton (1725–1807), a principal character in the Evangelical Revival of the Church of England.  The site is located on the southeast side of the town, about.230 m north of the River Great Ouse.

The report uploaded here is a detailed illustrated descriptive and interpretative account of the discoveries.

In summary, eight substantial pits were recorded, cut into river gravels, immediately northeast of the house. At least four of the pits were sub-rectangular in plan with near-vertical sides. Each appeared to have been in-filled in a single event. Some contained dumps of ash and limey soil, while others were filled predominantly with dirty gravel. An early 18th century pit contained many hundreds of cattle horn cores. Amid four of the pits was a well-laid cobbled walkway or working yard, constructed at some time between c.1680 and c.1720; comparative features are known from other post-medieval tannery sites (e.g. Northampton; Otley, Yorks).

Diagnostic artefacts (pottery, clay tobacco pipes and glassware) revealed that the pits were not in use at the same time. The earliest pit became redundant at some juncture between the late 17th century and the first decade of the 18th century, while the latest was in-filled at some time between c. 1710 and the early 1730s.

The archaeological evidence is corroborated by a study of 17th and 18th century Olney wills which shows that tanners were active in this neighbourhood. Interestingly, the evidence contrasts with the general assumption that the medieval tanneries were located alongside the river on the southwest side of the town.

A total of 1496 investigated colourless glass analyses have been collected with the aim of achieving a clear geographical, typological, chronological and compositional overview on this particular type of glass. Based on manganese and antimony contents, four main groups were characterised: naturally colourless, Mn-decoloured, Sb-decoloured and Mn/Sb-decoloured. Main achievements relates to the chronological distribution of manganese and antimony technologies, the former being associated to a long lasting technology which culminated during the Late Antique period while the latter being practically absent after the 8 th century AD, being at its acme during the Roman imperial period. Except for naturally colourless glass, glass-making technology mostly implied the use of impure sands and na-tron, relegating the other components to a virtually irrelevant presence, except during the Late Antique and Medieval periods.

The aim of the work is to present selected issues related to the table culture of Silesian burghers in the late Middle Ages and early modern times, through the analysis of artifacts made of materials commonly used in that period, such as ceramics, wood, metal and glass. The analysis was based mainly on archaeological sources, which were described in detail and illustrated in the catalog. In addition, writing materials and iconographic relics were used as auxiliary sources. The dissertation takes into account the changes in tableware, the issue of washing hands, the content of ideological artifacts, commercial contacts and social diversity, as well as changes in customs in the culture of the table.

A set of 46 fragments decorated with the filigree technique were unearthed in Lisbon and dated to the 16th and 17th centuries. The aim of this investigation is to combine the archaeometric study of the glass together with the technology used to produce these beautiful and luxury items, in order to discuss their probable provenance. The glass composition was characterized using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA- ICP-MS). It was possible to identify genuine Venetian glass but it was also possible to find glass compositions that do not relate with any of the compositions from known façon-de-Venice glass production centers.

Glass artefacts dating back from the Roman period to the Post Medieval period were found during archaeological excavations in 2005 in the upper layers of the site in the St Theodore Quarter in Pula. The glass artefacts presented in this paper are attributed to the sepulchral context as well as associated with liturgical functions and inventory of a church with a cemetery that existed at the site during the period of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

Tijekom arheoloških istraživanja 2005. godine, u gornjim slojevima lokaliteta u četvrti sv. Teodora u Puli, pronađeni su stakleni artefakti datirani od razdoblja antike do novog vijeka. Određeni stakleni ulomci predstavljeni ovim člankom mogu se pripisati sepulkralnom kontekstu te liturgijskoj funkciji i inventaru crkve s grobljem koja je postojala na ovom lokalitetu tijekom razdoblja kasne antike i ranog srednjeg vijeka. KLJUČNE RIJEČI: rimsko staklo, kasnoantičko staklo, crkvena oprema, liturgija, kaleži na visokoj nozi, staklene svjetiljke, srednjovjekovno staklo, novovjekovno staklo Glass artefacts dating back from the Roman period to the Post Medieval period were found during archaeological excavations in 2005 in the upper layers of the site in the St Theodore Quarter in Pula. The glass artefacts presented in this paper are attributed to the sepulchral context as well as associated with liturgical functions and inventory of a church with a cemetery that existed at the site during the period of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

Studenice koje je otkriveno prilikom arheolo{kih iskopavawa tokom osamdesetih i devedesetih godina pro{log veka i u periodu od 2010. do 2013. godine. U proteklim kampawama na|en je 621 ulomak stakla iz razdobqa od kraja 12. veka do novijeg doba, odnosno iz II-VIII kulturnog horizonta studeni~kog kompleksa. Nalazi iz I horizonta, koji odgovaraju vremenu pre zasnivawa manastira, nisu registrovani. Ovaj materijal nije do sada bio predmet izu~avawa, ali je nekoliko fragmenata sredwovekovnih staklenih posuda i okulusa, otkrivenih tokom 80-ih godina pro{log veka, poslu`ilo kao ilustracija u katalogu izlo`be Blago manastira Studenice. 1 Najve}i broj staklenih ulomaka poti~e iz razdobqa od kraja 13. do sredine 15. veka. Sme{teni u studeni~ki stratigrafski kontekst, ovi nalazi su opredeqeni u II (od kraja 12. do kraja 13. veka) i III (14. vek i prva polovina 15. veka) kulturni horizont, koji je podeqen na dva pothorizonta -horizont III-a i horizont III-b, razgraniena slojem destrukcije manastirskih zdawa krajem 14. veka. Stratigrafska celina ozna~ena kao horizont III je obele`ena ktitorskom delatno{}u kraqa Stefana Uro{a * Tekst je rezultat rada na projektu Procesi urbanizacije i razvoja sredwovekovnog dru{tva (br. 177021) Ministarstva prosvete, nauke i tehnolo{kog razvoja Republike Srbije.

A book on the Post-medieval glass finds (bottles, beakers, bowls etc.) from the underwater sites in Croatia (Istra and Dalmatia).  A question of provenance and dating is addressed. Chapter on probable post-medieval glass workshop in bay of veštar in addition.

International expeditions extensively excavated Lower Nubia (between the First and Second Nile Cataracts) before it was submerged under the waters of Lake Nasser and Lake Nubia. The expeditions concentrated on monumental architecture and cemeteries, including sites at Qustul and Serra East, where the New Kingdom, and Napatan, Meroitic, Nobadian, and Makurian-period elites and common people were buried, ca. 1400 BC–AD 1400. Although the finds abound in adornments, including bead imports from Egypt and South India/Sri Lanka, only a few traces of local glass bead-making have been recorded in Nubia so far. Based on results of laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of 76 glass beads, pendants, and chunks from Qustul and Serra East contexts, dated between the New Kingdom and the Makuria Kingdom periods, this paper discusses the composition and provenance of two types of plant-ash soda-lime (v-Na-Ca) glass, two types of mineral soda-lime glass (m-Na-Ca), and two types of mineral-soda-high alumina (m-Na-Al) glass. It also presents the remains of a probable local glass bead-making workshop dated to the period of intensive long-distance bead trade in Northeast Africa, AD 400–600.

Early Modern Glass Production at the Manor of Reichenau am Freiwald, Lower Austria

This publication draws together all available sources about glass production in the 16th and 17th Centuries in the manor of Reichenau am Freiwald (Lower Austria). The focus is on the results of the archaeological research, which are significantly complemented by the descriptions and illustrations contained in the “Topographia Windhagiana”.
The glassworks Frauenwies, Schönfelderhof, Brennerhof and Reichenau I were in use up to 1599 and 1601 respectively and were succeeded by the glassworks Reichenau II, which continued until 1686. The technical structure of the glassworks and their furnaces can be partly reconstructed in some areas despite the limited archaeological results. A high level of technology, influenced not only by Italian glassmaking, but also showing further development towards the “Bohemian furnace”, is shown not only by the detailed views in the “Topographia Windhagiana”, but also from the construction of the works on stone foundations and the use of standardized furnace stones.
The crucible finds, together with other finds in the Mühlviertel and Waldviertel districts have made a typology of this, to glassworks specific, finds category possible for the first time. So-called ‘annealing pots’, pottery forms in which glass vessels were placed to cool in the annealing furnace, are presented extensively for the first time.
The reconstruction of the raw material composition and the spectrum of colour and forms of the Reichenau glasses has been made possible by the detailed inspection of the finds material and the results of chemical analyses. The glass was wood ash glass rich in silicon, although toward the end of the works` life the transition to the production of chalk glass had begun. From the waste glass it is possible to say that almost half the glass vessels were decoloured, almost a third were greenish and a fifth were otherwise green coloured; the rest were blue, red opaque, violet, emerald green, white and blue opaque, as well as opal and a very few black opaque vessels. The overly-represented violet raw glass consisted in the main part of intermediary or failed products of the decolouration process. Only a small part of the final product has this colour.
The production range, above all that of Reichenau II, included hollow, flat and solid glass. Colourless glasses à la façon de Venise (e.g. filigree and winding vessels), colourful plates, bowls and jugs, as well as simple everyday forms were found. Some groups, such as the diamond-point engraved or enamel-painted pieces, can be related to well-known, art historically narrowly-determinable, stylistic circles. Among the different flat glass types production in a little-known technique – the so-called ‘plate glass’ – was identified.
Faience production in the vicinity of the Reichenau glassworks was indicated by finds of unglazed sherds. The other pottery reveals something of the daily life of the glassmakers. Not only the usual domestic crockery was found, but also tobacco pipes, gaming pieces and a marble, which together with the illustration of a bowling alley in front of the glassworks in the “Topographia Windhagiana”, tell us how the glassmakers passed the time between work at the furnace.
The data considered as a whole allows more widely reaching statements about the operational methods of the glass works in the manor of Reichenau. The comparative analysis of the product range of archaeologically researched glassworks in central Europe underlines the quality of the production from Reichenau and the glass producing landscape of that area.
These results confirm that archaeological research at the sites of glassworks are essential to new impulses and findings in a historically and art historically-dominated glass research field.
Austria’s importance as the geographic link between Venice and Bohemia, the two important Central European glass centres in the medieval and early modern periods and its mediating role in the transfer of technological knowledge and innovation between these two poles has hardly been researched up to now. The research work presented here on the glass works of the manor of Reichenau illuminates this tension in exactly the period that saw the replacement of Venice as the leading European glass production centre by the Bohemian territories.

Currently only available for purchase
https://www.verlag-berger.at/shop/artikelsuche/v/issn-1993-1255-4.html

Durante a intervenção arqueológica urbana decorrida na Praça da Figueira entre 1999 e 2001, foi identificada uma parte significativa do Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos, demolido em 1775, em consequência da sua ruína após o terramoto de 1755.
Entre as muitas estruturas colocadas à vista estava o claustro sudoeste, no qual existia um poço. Os materiais que agora se apresentam são provenientes da escavação integral daquele contexto.

Archaelogical works undertaken in Praça da Figueira (Lisboa) between 1999 and 2001 revealed a significant part of the Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos (All Saints Royal Hospital). The building’s ruinous condition after the 1755 earthquake led to its demolition in 1775.
The south-western cloister, which featured a well, was one of many unearthed structures. This paper will focus on the glass artefacts found during the total excavation of that context.

This paper examines selected groups of excavated table glass from the three urban centres of Exeter, Pool and Plymouth. By examining the changes in provenance and range of forms present, it is possible to chart the evolving patterns of consumption taking place in the West Country home during the 16th and 17th centuries. As well as growing competition between the emerging European centres of production, innovation in style, technological advances and developing patterns of trade can all be seen to have been directly affecting consumer choices of an emerging middling sort.

I 15 of a batch; historical furnace temperatures were too low to melt the sand itself. Thus, to some extent, the history of glass is also a history of application of various fluxes. The invention of cristallo in Venice, of a quality that surpassed glasses such as vetro commune and vitrum blanchum, constituted one of the most obvious manifestations of this process. One of many innovations and improvements that stood behind this achievement was the application of plant ash soda, obtained by the fig. 2

In 2017 a small-scale test pit excavation was carried out at Schwarzenberg am Böhmerwald (Bez. Rohrbach) in order to establish the dating and spectrum of production at this site, known thanks to numerous finds of glass beads (prayer beads – Patterln). This site is not mentioned in the written sources describing glass workshops in this community, which are well-researched but sometimes not easy to interpret. The excavation has yielded crucibles, cooling vessels and production waste, but especially beads, buttons, hollow glassware in the Renaissance and Baroque style (including ruby-glass) as well as types of flat glass. This material surprisingly corresponds to stray finds made at the glassworks of Sonnenschlag, which are only 1 km distant, situated within the present residential area, and well documented by written sources. Based on these findings, there is a question about the reasons for such a parallerism, i.e. what actually was the function of the excavated glassmaking site.

U radu se prikazuju dvije vrlo česte skupine predmeta, koje
se nalaze na morskom dnu, a potječu iz novog vijeka. To
su staklene boce i čaše te glinene lule. Zajedničko im je
to što su ih u velikoj mjeri koristili pomorci i ribari, krateći
duge i naporne dane alkoholom i duhanom. Uz pregled
najčešćih tipova iz podmorja Istre, obrazlaže se porijeklo i
datacija ovih predmeta.
This paper presents two very common groups of objects
located at the bottom of the sea, both of which stem from
the post medieval period. These include glass bottles and
clay pipes. What these groups both have in common is
that they were used massively by sailors and fishermen,
who shortened thus their long and exhausting days with
alcohol and tobacco. The most common types from the
Istrian seabed are reviewed and at the same time an explanation
regarding the provenance and dating of these
objects is given.

Le 8e colloque international de l’AFAV, tenu à Besançon en décembre 2016, a regroupé un grand nombre de spécialistes du verre médiéval. Présentées dans ces actes, les communications renouvellent, grâce à une approche interdisciplinaire, les études menées sur un matériau qui a intéressé les archéologues, les historiens, les archéomètres, les verriers et les restaurateurs-conservateurs. Elles proposent une synthèse de nos connaissances sur le verre des VIIIe-XVIesiècles au Portugal, en Italie, Slovénie et dans les Balkans, et plus ponctuellement dans des régions suisses, allemandes et françaises, sans omettre les échanges avec le Nouveau Monde (Canada) pour la fin de la période considérée.

Inès PACTAT, ingénieure en archéométrie au Centre E. Babelon (Iramat Orléans), a consacré sa thèse en archéologie et archéométrie au verre produit en France entre le VIIIe et le XIe siècle (MSHE C. N. Ledoux/Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, université de Franche-Comté).

Claudine MUNIER, présidente de l’AFAV et archéologue à la Ville de Besançon s’intéresse au verre archéologique depuis 30 ans.

Exploratory excavations carried out in Schwarzenberg am Böhmerwald, Upper Austria, uncovered the remains of an unrecorded glassworks. Part of a furnace was exposed, along with glass beads and buttons, as well as holloware and flat glass fragments from the 17th and early 18th centuries. This article describes the finds and their relationship to the nearby Sonnenschlag glassworks where similar beads and glassware fragments have been collected. Both sites are related to the beadmaking industry in the nearby Bavarian and Bohemian forests, which experienced a veritable bead boom around 1700.