GLASS NEWS

although trails are used sparingly on the earlier quoted The extent of glass blowing evidence identified so far in
examples (Price and Cottam 1998, 159-61). Britain is concentrated around military and urban sites,
with none in the south-west; the nearest published sites
Figure 3: Three of the glass gaming counters from are Caerleon in south Wales, and Silchester in Berkshire
St Algar’s ©Rachel Tyson (Price 1998; Price 2002, 86, fig. 5). Closer to St Algar's,
Roman glass working waste was discovered within a
Four gaming counters were excavated (Fig. 3), including hearth area at the Lower Common Allotments, Bath in
two pale green and one unusually coloured opaque blue- 1985 (Davenport and Lewcun n.d., period 3.4). The
green example. A decorated opaque white counter with a finds included strongly coloured glass in cobalt blue,
central red dot and four green dots surrounding it rich green, opaque red and turquoise, suggesting an
embedded in the upper surface, is similar to a counter in earlier Roman date. However, there was no conclusive
the British Museum originally from Colchester (BM evidence that the glass was being blown.
1870,0402.349). A single small globular double-
segmented bead of blue/green glass is a type most As well as beginning to fill the lack of Roman glass
common in the late 3rd and 4th centuries. Only 16 flat blowing sites in the south-west, St Algar's is the first
fragments of flat window or bottle glass were found. identifiable glass working site in Roman Britain that is
rural, contributing much to the understanding of the
Conclusions organisation of the Roman glass industry. Price has
The glass crucible fragments and the glass waste all suggested that the previous distribution pattern was
provide irrefutable evidence that glass was being melted unrepresentative and that it 'is possible that much of the
and blown at St Algar's. No evidence has yet been found late Roman glass production was rurally based' (Price
for a furnace structure in situ. It was the usual practice in 2000, 22), and the St Algar's evidence supports this
Roman Britain to either reheat blocks of glass imported assertion. The change in location may also be
from the Mediterranean, or to recycle broken fragments accompanied by a change in the compositional type of
of window and vessel glass (Shepherd and Wardle 2009, glass used, which chemical analysis of the St Algar's
9-10; Price 2002). This was the case in Britain, possibly glass might reveal.
with the exception of Coppergate in York (Price 2002,
85-9). Small chunks of melted glass were amongst the A full version of the 2010 glass report is available from
glassworking waste at St Algar's, but it cannot be Rachel Tyson ([email protected]) or Ceri
confirmed whether these are from broken layers from Lambdin ([email protected]). Further
inside crucibles used at the site, or from larger imported publication of the glass is planned as the project
blocks. It is equally uncertain which of the glass progresses.
fragments represent glass products that were being made
at St Algar's, and which may be broken vessels collected References
from elsewhere for remelting. The conical beakers are
perhaps the most likely to have been made on site given Davenport, P and Lewcun, M, n.d. Excavations at
that they are the most numerous; it cannot be assumed Lower Common Allotments, Upper Bristol Road, Bath.
that the glass was made using broken vessels anyway. An Iron Age and Roman Farm, unpublished archive
report in Roman Baths Museum, Bath
The glass products suggest that the glass working must
date to the 4th century or later, and the molten fragments Price, J, 1998 The Social Context of Glass Production
indicate that pale shades of blue-green, green or yellow- in Roman Britain, in P. McCray (ed.), The Prehistory
green glass were being worked, also typical of late and History of Glassmaking Technology, 331-48
Roman glass. Late Roman HIMT (high iron, manganese
and titanium oxide) glass is characteristically yellow- Price, J, 2000 Late Roman Glass Vessels in Britain and
green in colour, and chemical analysis of samples of Ireland from AD 350 to 410 and Beyond, in J Price
molten waste from St Algar's could suggest whether the (ed.), Glass in Britain and Ireland AD 350-1100, British
glass found here is of that type, and whether it is more Museum Occasional Paper 127, 1-31
likely to have come from imported blocks or remelted
cullet. Price, J, 2002 Broken bottles and quartz-sand: Glass
production in Yorkshire and the North in the Roman
Glass News 31 January 2012 period, in P Wilson and J Price, Aspects of Industry in
Roman Yorkshire and the North, Oxbow Books, 81-93

Price, J and Cottam, S, 1998 Romano-British Glass
Vessels: A Handbook, Practical Handbook in
Archaeology 14, Council for British Archaeology

Shepherd, J and Wardle, A, 2009 The Glass Workers of
Roman London, Museum of London Archaeology

11

AHG Grant Report:
Glasswares for Drinking and the Construction of Social Identity in the 17th-century

Dutch Republic
Claire Finn

Postgraduate research, University of Sheffield
[email protected]

During the 17th century, the Netherlands underwent a For the people of the newly formed 17th-century Dutch
‘Golden Age’. The newly formed Dutch Republic, free Republic, there was a flood of drinking products now
from the oppression of Catholic Spain, flourished as available on the market, and choices had to be made by
trade, exploration and industry led to rapid those buying them. My research, as part of a PhD, is
developments in artistic, philosophical and scientific investigating how social and personal identity during
endeavours. The subsequent explosion in wealth and the this effervescent time was displayed and communicated
increase in fortunes are visible particularly in the through the drinking glasses related to the consumption
increased production and consumption of material of alcohol. As well as charting change in the use of
goods. Moreover, the establishment of relative tolerance different types of drinking glass over the century, this
for religious and ethnic diversity, the development of the study is also attempting to identify different patterns of
middle-classes, and the dawning of a nascent ‘Dutch’ use across the country, and if trends within or between
identity, all led to a breakdown of conventional social cities and provinces can be seen.
structures and the signalling of new identities through
this material culture. As part of an ongoing PhD research project, a grant from
the AHG funded a data-gathering trip to the four Dutch
In relation to glass, and particularly vessel glass, the cities of Groningen, Maastricht, Hoorn and Arnhem, to
material culture of the century underwent a series of examine excavated but unpublished glassware discarded
very rapid material and stylistic changes. While the long in domestic household cesspits from the 17th century.
established ‘forest’ glasshouses were still producing These cities were chosen to give a geographic spread
classic green-tinted utilitarian drinking wares, their across the country, and cesspit assemblages chosen to
products, vessels like roemers, became more complex in represent a cross-section of wealth.
their design. Soda glass too began to be used for every
day beer beakers, and these also grew larger in size and
more elaborate in decoration. The century also saw the
establishment of façon de Venise glasshouses across
Europe, producing high quality wine goblets in delicate
forms, as well as the large scale manufacture of English
lead glasses that eventually put the former out of
business.

Fig. 1. Roemer from Bruintje (Hoorn) © Claire Finn Fig. 2. Winged snake-stem goblet from Weverstraat
(Arnhem) © Claire Finn
Glass News 31 January 2012
The most immediately noticeable factor is that all the
contexts, even those belonging to the poorest
households, contained at least some form of glassware
for drinking, even if ceramics were also present. Some
types of locally produced glazed ceramic would
certainly have been cheaper to purchase than glass, and
clearly the use of glass for drinking vessels went beyond

12

the practical. Secondly, very few glasses were plain. The easily recognised though significant variations in the
majority, even of the more simple glass forms such as quality and quantity of those forms. The location of the
beer beakers were either mould-blown decorative forms household seems to make a difference in their use of
such as the knobbelbeker, ribbelbeker or wafelbeker or material; the coastal city of Hoorn which lies in the
contained other decorative elements such as colouration, richest province of Holland seemed to have the greatest
enamel painting, etching, ‘icing’, gilding or applied variety and quality of vessel types, whereas the eastern
prunts. Façon de venise goblets were rarer but city of Arnhem displayed a much lower ratio of glass to
surprisingly, were still found in the cesspit refuse of ceramics. Other more overt displays of personal identity
otherwise rather poorly furnished households. It seems can be seen through a small but significant number of
that owning at least one, more expensive, goblet style glasses engraved with text and heraldic symbols.
glass was an important aspect of material identity during
the 17th century. This might be due to the decorative This research is ongoing, and it is hoped that the
appearance of such items for display, or even the collection of a greater dataset over the next two years,
implication that the owners might be able to afford the through the investigation of more assemblages and
prohibitively expensive wine that was consumed from cities, will confirm these patterns and help shed light on
such vessels. further aspects of alcohol consumption in the Golden
Age.
Although similar glass forms are being identified across
most of the assemblages, wealth and status are fairly

AHG Grant Report:
Opaque yellow glass production in Late Antiquity

James R Peake

PhD Archaeology, Cardiff University
Funded by Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service

[email protected]

The recent AHG conference, ‘Neighbours and Successors Our interpretation of the results differs considerably from
of Rome’, held in York in May 2011, provided me with that previously put forward for glass industrial debris
the opportunity to present the analyses of a small from Dunmisk, Ireland, where it has been suggested that
assemblage of 8th-century glassworking waste from the yellow glass was being made directly from its raw
Tarbat monastery excavations (Portmahomack, materials, including soda, and that the craft activity is a
Scotland). Within this assemblage, two opaque yellow continuation of a specifically Celtic technological
glass driblets and the residue of opaque yellow glass from tradition (Henderson and Ivens 1992). This difference
a ‘heating tray’ were analysed using an energy-dispersive may relate simply to the character and positions of the
X-ray analyser in a scanning electron microscope (SEM- sites, but the notable similarities of the opaque yellows
EDXA). This has provided further insights into the from Dunmisk and Tarbat, and that from Schleitheim in
production of opaque yellow glass in Scotland during the Switzerland (Heck et al. 2003), strongly suggest a
early medieval period. common technology.

Prior to the fourth century, opaque yellow glass I am most grateful to the AHG for providing a grant with
production was largely based upon the use of antimony which to attend the conference. Thanks are also due to
oxides, and the lead-tin yellow pigment identified in the Ian Freestone who assisted with the interpretation of the
Tarbat glass is characteristically early medieval. It results, and Ewan Campbell who made the glass available
appears to have been made using a technique which is for analysis.
closely paralleled in Merovingian Schleitheim,
Switzerland (Heck et al. 2003). Here, lead-tin yellow References
pigment was prepared by heating a mixture of the oxides
of lead and tin, which reacted with the crucible fabric to Heck, M, Rehren, T and Hoffmann, P, 2003 The
form crystals of lead-tin oxide in a lead-silica glass. This Production of Lead-Tin Yellow at Merovingian
was then crushed and mixed with a pre-existing soda- Schleitheim (Switzerland), Archaeometry 45, 33-44
lime-silica glass to form the yellow glass used to make
beads. Henderson, J and Ivens, R, 1992 Dunmisk and Glass-
Making in Early Christian Ireland, Antiquity 66, 52-6

Glass News 31 January 2012 13

QUERIES WEBSITE UPDATE

Mark Quinlan writes: I am researching a beautiful cut www.yorkglazierstrust.org
glass pitcher engraved by my great great grandfather,
Hieronomus Keller, which was displayed at the The York Glaziers Trust, who gave AHG members a
Edinburgh Exhibition of 1886 and later at the Glasgow wonderful tour of their workshop at the May 2011
Exhibition, possibly in 1888. The engraving is titled ‘St. meeting, has a new website. Not only does this provide
George and the Dragon’. The pitcher is still in our information about the work of the Trust, details of past
family’s possession here in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. I was projects and a range of information resources, but visitors
referred to you by the National Library of Scotland, and will be able to follow the progress of the HLF-funded
would be very grateful for any assistance or guidance you conservation of York Minster’s Great East Window, John
can provide in verifying the history of the display of the Thornton’s stained glass ‘Apocalypse’ of 1405-8. The
pitcher. The dimensions are 7.75 inches in height, with a ‘Panel of the Month’ feature will reveal the extraordinary
base diameter of 4.75 inches and a top diameter of 3.50 quality of this exceptional window.
inches.
If anyone has any information please email www.georgianglassmakers.co.uk
[email protected]
Mark Taylor and David Hill, well-known as ‘the Roman
Evan Fishman from the USA is researching a possible Glassmakers’, have a new website as ‘the Georgian
ancestor, surname MANDELSTEIN, who was Glassmakers’, featuring 17th- and 18th-century drinking
successfully involved in the glassmaking industry in the vessels and bottles, and including a discussion on Lead
late 19th, early 20th centuries. If anyone can help his Oxide as an Ingredient in Glass. The AHG will be
research please contact him at [email protected] organising a study day at their workshop near Andover
later in the year.
Karl-Heinz Cegla from Norway is trying to find out more
about the glassmaker family Brun (also called Brunn, Byzantine mosaic database
Bronne, Braun). They travelled around in Europe. In www.sussex.ac.uk/byzantine/mosaic/
1740 Nicolaus Brun (Brunn/Bronne) and his family
worked at a glassfactory in Ilmenau (Germany). Brun The International Network of The Composition of
(Norwegian, French) = Brown (English) = Braun Byzantine Glass Mosaic Tesserae sponsored by the
(German). Please respond with any information to: Leverhulme Trust 2007-2010 and directed by Professor
mailto:[email protected] Liz James at University of Sussex, has now published
online databases of sites and sources of Byzantine mosaic
glass tesserae.

There are three databases in total, that can be searched or
browsed for information:

‘Structures’ records buildings (4th-15th century) where
there is archaeological evidence (finds) of glass wall
mosaics.

‘Texts’ contains records of primary Byzantine sources
which mention mosaics.

‘References’ is a bibliographical database of modern
scientific publications about glass mosaics.

All three are in a state of continuous updating and we
therefore invite contributions, corrections and
suggestions for improvement to keep developing the
databases further. Please contact Liz James
([email protected]) or Bente Bjornholt
([email protected])

Glass News 31 January 2012 14

NEW PUBLICATIONS 45€plus shipping

Late Byzantine Mineral Soda High The third volume in the series has information on mould-
Alumina Glasses from Asia Minor: A New blown and impressed designs on bottle and flask bases in
Primary Glass Production Group Britain by Jenny Price, as well as updates on the
examples in the Netherlands, France, Germany,
Nadine Schibille, Research Laboratory for Switzerland, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey
Archaeology and the History of Art, University of and the Black Sea and Near East regions.
Oxford
Volumes 1 and 2 were published in 2006. See the AFAV
Open access article published online April 19 2011; website www.afaverre.fr for further details, and how to
PLoS One.2011;6(4):e18970 order.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3079742/
Catalogue of Glass and Limoges Painted
Thirty-one glass samples from excavations at Pergamon Enamels
(Turkey) dating from the 4th to 14th centuries were
analysed by electron microprobe analysis and laser Suzanne Higgott
ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. with contributions from Isabelle Biron, Susan La
The data revealed three different glass production Niece, Juanita Navarro and Stefan Röhrs
technologies, one of which had not previously been
recognised in the glass making traditions of the The Wallace Collection 2011 (see inserted flyer)
Mediterranean. The late antique and early medieval 400 pages, 305 x 245 mm
fragments confirmed current models of glass production Illustrations: 440 colour illus.
and distribution in the eastern Mediterranean. However Jacketed Hardback
the majority of the 8th- to 14th-century glasses indicated ISBN: 9780900785856
the existence of a late Byzantine glass type characterised
by high alumina levels. The trace element patterns and Price £150 The Wallace Collection is offering a £25
elevated boron and lithium concentrations also suggest discount to AHG members until the end of February
these glasses were produced with a mineral soda different 2012. Contact [email protected]
to the Egyptian natron from the Wadi Natrun (found in to purchase this essential reference work for £125
the earlier glasses), suggesting a possible regional
Byzantine primary glass production in Asia Minor. These important holdings are published in full for the
first time. The catalogue discusses some sixty exquisite
Glass recipes of the Renaissance. pieces of mostly Venetian or façon de venise glassware,
Transcription of an anonymous Venetian including vessels in mould-blown, enamelled and gilt and
manuscript vetro a filigrana glass. Highlights include a calcedonio
goblet, a trick-glass tazza and a chalice-shaped goblet
Cesare Moretti and Tullio Toninato enamelled with the Crucifixion. The Islamic glass
English translation with additional notes by David C mosque lamp, an early 17th-century Bohemian beaker
Watts and Cesare Moretti (humpen), evocatively enamelled with scenes of
merrymaking and intended for welcoming guests, and an
2011 London: Watts publishing exquisite goblet from a magnificent dressing-table
ISBN 978-0-9562116-1-3 service made in Augsburg in the later 18th century
£15 plus £3.50 P&P from David Watts, 27 Raydean provide fascinating glimpses into very different cultures.
Road, Barnet EN5 1AN; [email protected] Thirty painted enamels are also discussed in full.

A review of this mid 16th-century Venetian glassmaking BOOK REVIEW
recipe book will appear in the next issue of Glass News
Les Verres Antiques d'Arles: la collection
Corpus des Signatures et Marques sur du musée départemental d'Arles antique
Verres Antiques, Volume 3
Danièle Foy, preface Alain Charron
Edited by D. Foy and M-D. Nenna
2010 Editions Errance
Association Francaise pour l’Archeologie du Verre 2011 French
ISBN 2-9505942-5-5 528 pages
ISBN 978-287772-417-3
Glass News 31 January 2012 65€

15

Situated near the mouth of the Rhône and at the most back to particular contexts within the city. Nevertheless
southerly crossing of the river, Arles was an important there are clearly several sites that have produced
hub for the transfer and trading of goods during the individually interesting assemblages, whether burials,
Roman period. Selecting 1084 items from the thousands urban excavations or under water investigations.
in the museum’s collection Danièle Foy tells the story of Unfortunately in a catalogue organised by vessel type, the
glass use in the city from the early Empire to the 6th chapter divisions dictate that glass from these groups is
century AD. Nearly all the pieces are illustrated and dispersed. But where assemblages can be brought
photographed and the catalogue entries are clear and together by both form and site, this is done – most
succinct. The catalogue is organised by vessel type, with successfully where specific burial groups contain similar
a further two chapters dedicated to late antique glass. flasks and unguent bottles. Foy has scrupulously cross
There are shorter sections on architectural glass, glass referenced vessels that come from the same contexts, and
objects and production waste. Short introductions to each there is a useful concordance of site codes and excavation
chapter provide a useful narrative with direct references locations in the opening chapter, though a little more
to individual items. information about findspots would be useful. This is
particularly applicable in the case of the assemblage of 54
But this volume is more than simply a well-illustrated 3rd-century vessels from a drain deposit in the
work of reference. Danièle Foy is one of the most cryptoporticus beneath the forum.
knowledgeable and energetic contributors to the study of
ancient glass in France, and this volume fits well with the Although individual sites are not discussed in detail, one
substantial body of published material concerning the of the advantages of this collection for glass specialists
glass of south-eastern France that she and other scholars lies in the unity of provenance of its contents.
have produced over the last 20 years. The author takes Significantly, every item in the volume comes from Arles
the opportunity to include in the introduction a summary itself or its immediate hinterland. The author states early
of many aspects of current Roman glass studies, and on her wish to illustrate all the forms in the collection,
provides a useful update on topics such as glass and to represent the relative popularity of these types by
composition, the location of primary production sites and the numbers in which they are included in the catalogue.
the distribution and chronology of secondary furnaces in The end result is a volume that gives a very clear
France. impression of over a thousand years of glass consumption
in the city. At 65 euros this is not a cheap investment, but
The introductory chapters also describe how the current for any scholar of Roman glass in France it is essential
collection came together, with particular emphasis on the and stimulating reading.
activities of the 18th- and 19th-century antiquarians of
Arles – a familiar cast of aristocrats, colonels and Sally Cottam
clergymen. A considerable number of important vessels
from Arles have found their way into collections Please send your contributions:
elsewhere (such as the well known purple and opaque Finds • Research • Ideas • Enquiries
white jar in the British Museum) and these are noted, Publications • Conferences • News
though not catalogued.
for Glass News 32
Despite these absences, there are many interesting items by
in the current museum collection presented here. These
include the first core formed vessels to be published from 1st June 2012
the city, some of which appear to come from closely
dated contexts. Foy shows a particular interest in the to either of the editors:
origins of the Arlesian glass and comments frequently on Andrew Meek
possible sources of manufacture, though always with
prudent caution. Most of the vessels from the mid 1st Department of Conservation and Scientific
century AD onwards are attributed to workshops in Italy Research
and the western Mediterranean but there is a small but
significant number of vessels that appear to have links The British Museum
with regions further north, such as a group of fragments Great Russell Street
with snake-thread decoration. Although three or four
production areas have been identified in Arles itself, all London
from the 4th century AD or later, the author rarely and WC1B 3DG
only tentatively makes any direct links between [email protected]
workshop and product.
or
Even after Danièle Foy's impressive detective work in the Rachel Tyson
archives, much of the museum's glass cannot be linked 25 North Street

Glass News 31 January 2012 Calne
Wiltshire SN11 0HQ
[email protected]

16

Glass News

July 2012 Published by The Association for the History of Glass Ltd ISSN 1362-5195
www.historyofglass.org.uk

Number 32

Sarah Jennings working on the glass finds from Butrint, Albania © Dylan Cox

Welcome to Glass News Issue 32! and Society for Glass Technology. A packed and exciting
schedule!
The main event of the autumn is the AHG and Medieval
Pottery Research Group’s conference in honour of Sarah We also have three fantastic grant reports on Roman and
Jennings which will be held on the 16th of November at Iron Age glass and a number of very interesting articles.
the Wallace Collection. The title of the conference is Thanks once again to all the contributors to this issue.
Recent Research and New Discoveries in Glass and Please keep sending articles, notes, queries and reviews
Ceramics and details of the speakers can be found on the in for future issues! See back page for contact details.
following page.
Check out the newly designed AHG website which has
A study day is also planned for the 24th of November been re-launched at: www.historyofglass.org.uk
with the Georgian Glassmakers. This event will include
practical demonstrations of glassmaking and discussions REMINDER
of documentary evidence and scientific analysis of
British crystal glass from 1660-1700. MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Would
you like to enjoy all the wonderful Glass News
This autumn there are also conferences and meetings pictures in colour? If so, please email one of the
organised by the AIHV, AFAV, British Glass Foundation editors (see back page) and we will also email future
issues of Glass News to you as a full colour PDF!

Glass News 32 July 2012 1

AHG MEETINGS AHG members wishing to attend only the AGM may do
so free of charge.

Recent Research and New Discoveries in The Evidence for British Crystal Glass
Glass and Ceramics: 1660-1700

A Conference in Honour of Sarah Saturday 24 November 2012
Jennings Project Workshops, Quarley, Hampshire, SP11 8PX

Friday 16 November 2012 This Study Day will be held with “Georgian
The Wallace Collection, London Glassmakers” Mark Taylor and David Hill (see
www.georgianglassmakers.co.uk). It will centre on
Organised by the Medieval Pottery Research Group & practical demonstrations of late seventeenth-century
the Association for the History of Glass glassmaking techniques and provide opportunities, in a
relaxed practically-based setting, to discuss evidence for
The day will start at 10am with registration and coffee, how this glass was made. The study of seventeenth-
finishing with a wine reception in the evening. Some century glass has benefited from many authors'
wonderful speakers from among Sarah’s many friends contributions, but these often involved significant
and colleagues in the worlds of glass and ceramics will conjectures to fill-in gaps in the sparse evidence then
be presenting. available. With time and repetition it has become difficult
to separate fact from informed speculation and newly-
Hugo Blake and Michael Hughes - An early available evidence has yet to be widely assimilated. This
fourteenth-century tin-glazed earthenware jar from study day aims to help clarify matters by considering the
Norwich and other archaic maiolicas excavated in following sources of period evidence:
Britain
Hilary Cool - Aromatic Assemblages: Exploring the Practical demonstration of glassmaking tools &
Finds from Pompeii Insula VI.1 techniques
George Haggarty - The Delftfield Pottery, Glasgow, Results of experimental glass melts
1748 -1826; Demolition and Resurrection Archive documentary evidence for seventeenth-
Ian Freestone - Red, White and Blue: the Origins of century crystal glassmaking (Mike Noble has kindly
Medieval Window Glass Technology agreed to assist with this topic)
David Whitehouse - Before Venice: The Antecedents Scientific analysis of archaeological glass and
of the Venetian Glass Industry glassmaking finds (David Dungworth has kindly
agreed to assist with this topic)
Other confirmed speakers are Katherine Barclay and
Frans Verhaeghe. Further details will follow; for updates Approximate Programme
please see the AHG and MPRG websites at:
www.historyofglass.org.uk or 10.00 Arrival and coffee
www.medievalpottery.org.uk
10.30 Practical demonstrations 1 – the basics of lead
This is a joint meeting between the AHG and the MPRG crystal glass making
so may be more heavily subscribed than usual - please
book early to avoid disappointment. 12.30 Lunch and opportunity to discuss other sources of
period evidence (this will be held on the first floor with
If you would like to attend please send your full contact access via a flight of stairs)
details with a cheque for £25 or £10 (students) payable to
The Association for the History of Glass Ltd, to Jennifer 14.30 Practical demonstrations 2 – making vessels
Price, Garth End, Well Garth, Heslington, York YO10
5JT. Participants from abroad may pay on the day but 16.30 Close
need to book a place by emailing
[email protected]. Receipts will be sent by Because of the practical elements during this day,
e-mail, or by SAE (if sent) or on the day. numbers will be limited to approximately 12 attendees on
a first-come basis. Plentiful tea, coffee and biscuits will
The AHG AGM will be held during the lunch break be provided. Due to the setting it is not easy to 'pop-out'
(details will be sent out nearer the time).
2
Glass News 32 July 2012

for lunch, so a buffet lunch is included in the price. The 19th Congress of the Association Internationale pour
Please let Colin & Sue Brain know if you have any l’Histoire du Verre will take place in Piran, Slovenia,
dietary restrictions. from Sunday 16th to Friday 21st September. There is a
full programme of two parallel lectures sessions each day
If you would like to attend, please send your contact and two poster sessions, as well as visits to museums and
details, a stamped addressed envelope and cheque for collections in Ljubljana and Aquileia. It is now too late to
£54, payable to: The Association for the History of Glass submit abstracts for presentation, but registration is still
Ltd, to C & S Brain, 10 College Street, Salisbury, SP1 open.
3AL (email [email protected]).
Congress Fee:
Receipt will be by email, SAE, or on the day (participants AIHV members: 260€, Students: 130€, Non-AIHV
who normally live outside the UK may pay in UK members: 320€, Accompanying person: 130€
sterling upon arrival at the venue).
Provisional programme
OTHER MEETINGS
Sunday, 16 September
Heavenly Light: The Stained Glass of Registration
Gloucester Cathedral Guided tour of Piran
Monday, 17 September
A Study Day led by experts in the Cathedral’s glass Welcome speeches
All day lecture sessions on glass from the 2nd and 1st
The next available date, open to all, is 1st October 2012, millennium BC, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic,
10am-3.45pm. Further study days are planned for 2013. Byzantine and Roman periods.
Further dates can be arranged for groups and societies. Tuesday, 18 September
Morning lecture sessions on glass from the Hellenistic,
This is an opportunity to learn about the making of a Roman, Post Roman and Islamic periods
stained glass window, how to ‘read’ a window, and to Afternoon museum visits in Ljubljana
study some of the finest stained glass in the country, Wednesday, 19 September
installed from the mid-1300s to the late twentieth- All day lecture sessions on glass from the Roman,
century. The Great East Window, in particular, is of Islamic periods and Venetian and Façon de Venise
international importance. At the time of its installation in glasses
the 1350s it was the largest window in the world, and Poster session 1
most of its original glass survives. The early twentieth- Optional wine tasting
century glass in the Lady Chapel is generally Thursday, 20 September
acknowledged to be the best of the Arts and Crafts Morning lecture sessions on glass from the Roman and
movement. Late Roman periods and 17th-19th centuries
Poster session 2
Tickets £20 per person including lunch. Numbers are Excursion to Aquileia, Italy
limited to 25. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of Friday, 21 September
Gloucester Cathedral. Morning lecture sessions on glass from the Late Roman
period, 18th-19th centuries and Modern era.
Binoculars are an advantage. Participants need to be able General assembly of the AIHV
to climb stairs and walk on uneven floors. Closing session

For further information and to make a booking please For further details and to book see www.zrs.upr.si or
contact Christine Turton, The Cathedral Office, 12 email [email protected]
College Green, Gloucester; 01452 508210;

[email protected]

See the AHG meeting review on page 6.

Glass News 32 July 2012 3

Association Française pour l’Archéologie Meriel C Harris, 44 Sandy Road, Norton, Stourbridge,
du Verre (AFAV) West Midlands DY8 3AH.

9 and 10 November 2012 If you have any queries please call Meriel on:
Musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux +44 (0)1384 393498.

The 26th annual meeting of the AFAV aims to compare A new Jerusalem
research from France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland
and Luxembourg on the history of glass. 13 October 2012
Thornhill Parish Church, Dewsbury, WF12 0JZ
The registration fee for this meeting is 50€ (25€ for
students). This includes lunches on Friday and Saturday. The fifteenth-century glass of the east window of the
To be able to take part in this meeting you, or your Savile Chapel at Thornhill is a rare depiction of the
institution, must have paid the annual fee for the AFAV Heavenly City. Now in an advanced state of
(15€ for students, 30€ for individuals and 50€ for deterioration, it was recorded in careful detail by its
institutions). nineteenth-century restorers. A multidisciplinary
collaboration has resulted in the decision to create a
A list of hotels in the centre of Bordeaux, and the room replica window and display elements of the ancient glass
rates, will be announced later on the AFAV website. within the Savile Chapel.

For more information and to register see: www.afaverre.fr/ This conference, bringing together glass science, art
history and conservation, aims to examine the how and
From Rome to Stourbridge: why of this uniquely fascinating project, and promote
2000 years of cameo glass informed debate.

22 August 2012 Speakers include Sarah Brown MA, Dr David Martlew
Hagley Hall, nr Stourbridge, West Midlands and Jonathan Cooke ACR. Price £10 Students £5
includes buffet lunch, tea and coffee, which makes it
This meeting is organised by the British Glass extremely good value!
Foundation with the support of the Glass Association &
Friends of Broadfield House as part of the celebrations of For more information and booking see
400 years of glassmaking in the Stourbridge and Dudley www.thornhillparishchurch.org.uk/stainedglassday.htm
areas. It will include presentations by world-renowned
experts on the history of cameo, together with the public Society of Glass Technology
unveiling of contemporary examples Annual Conference:
Living Glass
Programme
5-7 September 2012
14.00 Registration and Coffee Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
14.30 – 15.30 “Ancient Roman Cameo Glass” by Dr.
Paul Roberts The 2012 SGT conference will be held at the University
15.30 – 16.00 Short Interval of Cambridge. The three threads of science, art and
16.00 – 17.00 “The Glories of Stourbridge Cameo Glass” technology will be covered: science will cover key
by Charles Hajdamach themes from novel materials and fabrication routes to
17.00 – 17.30 Unveiling of the 2012 replica of The structure and properties; technology will include areas
Portland Vase and introduction to its creators Richard such as the environment, fuel usage, modelling and glass
Golding, Terri Colledge and Ian Dury. applications; and art and history will make reference to
17.30 – 19.00 Wine and canapés the long traditions of stained glass in the colleges and
religious buildings of Cambridge. There will also be a
Cost: £38 per person to include coffee, wine and canapés. New Researchers Forum and a Workshop.
Numbers will be limited to 135 available on a first
come/first served basis. Cheques made payable to For more information see:
“British Glass Foundation” together with an A5 SAE www.cambridge2012.sgthome.co.uk/
should be forwarded with the booking form to:
4
Glass News 32 July 2012

AHG GRANTS Her glass publications included chapters on ‘Rod-Formed
Pendants and Beads’ in The Catalogue of Greek and
Grants are available from the Association for the History Roman Glass in the British Museum, Volume I by D B
of Glass, for educational or research activities consistent Harden (BMP, 1981), on ‘Rod-Formed Pendants’ in
with the Association’s charitable aims. These could Catalogue of Western Asiatic Glass in the British
include, for example, attendance at a conference to Museum, Volume 1 by D Barag (BMP, 1985) and on ‘The
present a lecture or poster, a study visit, fieldwork, or Glass’ in Excavations at Carthage: The British Mission
publication of scholarly works. There are no restrictions Volume I,1 by H R Hurst and S P Roskams (University of
on who may apply or on the topics of applications, which Sheffield/British Academy, 1984). She presented and
will be judged on merit. Multiple applications in different published numerous notes on specific aspects of pieces in
years will be considered with individual awards up to the British Museum collections in conference
£500. See also the AHG website for details proceedings, such as the AIHV Annales, and periodicals,
(www.historyofglass.org.uk). An application form may such as Glass News, and did some work on glass finds
be downloaded from the website, or can be obtained from from excavations in Britain. Her writing also reached a
the Honorary Secretary, Denise Allen. Email: much wider audience; in particular, her three chapters
[email protected] (Before the Invention of Glass Blowing; The Roman
Empire; Early Medieval Europe AD 400-1066) in Five
OBITUARIES Thousand Years of Glass edited by H Tait (BMP, 1991)
were carefully and clearly drafted to communicate the
Veronica Ann Tatton-Brown range and significance of the glass of different periods to
1944-2012 the general public. She worked on volume 2 of the Greek
and Roman catalogue when time allowed, but her illness
Veronica Tatton-Brown, who died in Salisbury on 2nd prevented her from completing this, although the first
March this year after a long illness, was very well known part, Roman Cameo Glass by P Roberts, W Gudenrath, V
and greatly respected by researchers in ancient glass Tatton-Brown, D Whitehouse (BMP 2010) has now
throughout the world. She was based in the Greek and appeared in print.
Roman Department of the British Museum as Assistant
Keeper of the Ancient Cypriot collections and Curator of In the thirty or so years that I knew her, Veronica was a
the Glass Collections from 1974 until her retirement in great colleague and glass-friend. Always devoted to her
2004. Throughout that period, she was notably generous family, she was generous and entertaining company,
with her time and expertise in welcoming and helping sometimes rather quiet in conversation though expressing
many hundreds of visiting scholars. her opinions succinctly and crisply when necessary. She
was an active member of various organisations involved
Veronica joined the British Museum to assist Donald with the study of glass. She frequently took part in the
Harden with the publication of the glass collections in the ICOM Glass group meetings, and was a valuable member
Greek and Roman Department, and although her of the Board of AHG from 1996 to 2004, when she was
principal research specialism was the archaeology of deeply involved in planning and running the 16th
ancient Cyprus, she quickly developed wide-ranging Congress of the International Association for the History
interests in ancient glass and worked towards the of Glass hosted by AHG in London in September 2003.
publication of the collections throughout her career in the Many of us will remember her happily making smoked
museum. salmon sandwiches for the final party we held at the
Society of Antiquaries!
She enjoyed collaborating with other researchers on glass
projects, and many of her publications resulted from Jennifer Price
these links. She became particularly interested in the
value of modern experimental glassworking for Axel von Saldern
understanding production techniques of ancient glass, and 28 July 1921-2 June 2012
spent a lot of time discussing such issues with Bill
Gudenrath (Corning Museum of Glass) and David Hill Axel von Saldern was a great glass scholar with a wide
and Mark Taylor (Roman Glassmakers, Andover). range of expertise. He worked as a curator in the Corning
Museum of Glass, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the
Glass News 32 July 2012 Kunstmuseum in Dusseldorf before becoming director of
the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg in
1971, and he wrote extensively on the glass of the ancient
and modern worlds in museums, private collections and
archaeological excavations. His most recent work on

5

glass (Antikes Glas. Handbuch in Archäologie, 2004) was
a comprehensive survey (over 700 pages) of glass from
its beginnings to the end of the Roman Empire. He had
great personal charm, and the enviable ability to move
between English, French and German in public speaking
and conversation. He was an active member of AIHV for
many years, attending congresses from the early 1960s
until 2001 and serving as President from 1985 to 1991.

Jennifer Price

MEETING REVIEWS Members viewing the Great East Window, Gloucester
Cathedral © Sandy Davison
AHG Spring Study Day
The Stained Glass of Gloucester The highlight of the medieval glass was the Great East
Window of c.1350, which was incredibly the size of a
Cathedral tennis court, all the more extraordinary when one realises
that the cathedral was merely an abbey church at the time
31 March 2012 with an audience of only up to sixty monks. The window
celebrates the Coronation of the Virgin, and is made up
The Great East Window, Gloucester Cathedral largely of tiers of figures in niches. The figures’ features
© Rachel Tyson showed a local style thought to be a Bristol workshop,
and the beginnings of perspective were pointed out to us.
On 31st March a band of us met at Gloucester Cathedral, Some of the panels had amazing detail; one showed
to be led for the day by four cathedral volunteers: twenty-two different instruments of the Passion.
Richard Cann, Susan Hamilton, Robin Lunn and Karen
Preece. They had previously completed an inventory, Other medieval glass had survived in the Lady Chapel’s
photographed and researched the stained glass, and East Window where the glass was somewhat jumbled,
developed this into an extremely informative and and some had originally been in other parts of the
interesting tour offered to groups and members of the cathedral, but was very revealing about the glazing
public. Coffee is always a good way to start, especially in history. We had a marvellous demonstration, with the aid
the beautiful surroundings of the Chapter House, where of moving computer graphics, in re-uniting a mismatched
we were given a most impressive PowerPoint top and bottom panel from different areas of the window!
presentation with an overview of the cathedral’s glass. The Lady Chapel also contained pieces of medieval glass
While there is not space here to document every window in the tracery lights between the nineteenth-century
we saw, some of the most memorable features of the day Whall panels. As an Arts and Crafts admirer of the
are included below. medieval technique, Whall re-used medieval glass where
appropriate.
Glass News 32 July 2012
An important feature of Gloucester Cathedral is the
quality of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century
glass, beginning when it was decided in 1854 that future
memorials should be in the form of windows. Many are
the design of the later well-known craftsmen Hardman,
Clayton and Bell, and Whall, all of whom were strongly
influenced by the medieval style. The finest of these are
Whall’s windows of 1898-1904 in the Lady Chapel,
which used slab glass to create an uneven thickness of
glass and thus more texture. We had an interesting
discussion about the windows’ faces, many of which had
faded paint, caused by the glass composition which
contained borax and had wept. A charming series of
windows in the lavatorium by Hardman were inspired by

6

water, such as the colourful Noah’s Ark with rainbow. meeting and would like to see the glass, the tour is
The day finished in the chapel of St Thomas surrounded available to book for groups and members of the public,
by the intense drama of Tom Denny’s colour-saturated the next date being 1st October 2012 (see page 3). I
windows installed in 1992. suspect that the tour is different every time depending on
the interests and expertise of the particular audience. On
It was a wonderfully informative and friendly day, and returning to Wiltshire I saw my local church’s
we would all like to thank the Gloucester volunteers and nineteenth-century windows (which include one by
Sandy Davison for organising it. The delicious lunch Whall) in an entirely new light!
provided for us in the medieval Parliament Rooms was
particularly enjoyable. If you were unable to attend this Rachel Tyson

AHG Grant Report:

Beyond Typology: Iron Age Glass Beads in their Social Context

Elizabeth M Schech,

Doctoral Candidate, Durham University
[email protected]

Although faience beads and some glass beads are found interested in the physical characteristics of the glass
in Bronze Age contexts in Britain, the earliest occurrence beads themselves, but also in the depositional context that
of glass objects in Britain occurs in the Iron Age (c. 800 they are found in. However, these will be studied within
BC – AD 100). These are mainly in the form of bangles the context of body adornment, in order to address ways
and beads, although by the later Iron Age other objects, in which identity was expressed, built, and modified.
such as gaming counters and vessels begin to appear.
Glass beads are perhaps the most prolific of glass objects Figure 1: A Guido Class 6a ‘Oldbury’ bead from
from this period and, like bangles, they were presumably Rudston Roman Villa (sf 40, KINCM:1986.1826.158,
worn on the body. However, the evidence for their use as
body adornments is limited due to the lack of burial © Hull and East Riding Museum, Hull Museums
contexts, as inhumations appear to be constrained by both
chronology and region. Although some single beads After completing an extensive review of the published
occur in inhumations, there is evidence to suggest that in literature, funding from the Association for the History of
other cases multiple beads were worn together perhaps as Glass, along with financial support from the Prehistoric
necklaces (for example, the Queen’s Barrow near Market Society and the Rosemary Cramp Fund, contributed
Weighton, and several burials at Wetwang Slack, both in towards consultation of two important sources of
the East Riding of Yorkshire). supplementary data. First, it was possible to visit 10
Historic Environment Record (HER) offices within the
Figure 2: A Guido Class 11a ‘Meare variant’ bead study regions. This has allowed the rapidly growing body
from Wetwang Slack burial 102 (KINCM:2010.7.306) of commercial ‘grey-literature’ reports to be added to the
© Hull and East Riding Museum, Hull Museums research database. Approximately 750 additional
excavated sites within the study regions had Iron Age
Past approaches to glass beads have focussed on and/or Roman period activity. Interestingly, with a few
classification and chemical composition through XRF exceptions, the preliminary results of this combined
analysis (Guido 1978; Henderson 1982). Although these literature review suggests that glass beads remain a rare
methods have formed a framework for future research, artefact on sites of both these periods. However, there are
this research project takes a different approach. Through
the use of four study regions, this analysis is not only 7

Glass News 32 July 2012

a number of factors that could be obscuring this the current classification system needs to be tested and
observation, such as size and placement of excavation. possibly restructured in order to account for the amount
of variability observed during this fieldwork.
Figure 3: A selection of beads from Wetwang Slack
burial 249 (KINCM:2010.7.310) © Hull and East The analysis of the data is currently on-going. Part of this
analysis will involve the examination of the use of
Riding Museum, Hull Museums different decorative motifs and the way in which colour
Secondly, it was possible to visit 13 museums in order to was used to create glass beads. This will not only form
measure, describe and photograph 1,390 glass beads part of a larger discussion on the use of colour in the Iron
(Figures 1-3). This has proved to be a crucial experience, Age, but will also address the use of bodily adornment
as in many cases reports of glass beads are vague and during this period. Through this study, glass beads will
there is little comparability between authors. In addition, be placed in the context of other objects of adornment
this has allowed the creation of a photographic record of and it is hoped that a better understanding of identity
a large number of glass beads. This has been useful for through material culture will be enabled.
the study of glass beads from the East Yorkshire Iron
Age burials as these beads are found in the Yorkshire Finally, I would like to thank the Association for the
Museum, the Hull and East Riding Museum, and the History of Glass for their generosity and financial support
British Museum. This has been especially vital as the of my research on glass beads. The data collection from
glass beads from Wetwang and Garton Slack remain both HERs and museums will provide a valuable dataset
largely unpublished. Preliminary analysis suggests that in which to interpret the use of glass, colour and design in
the Iron Age.

References

Guido, M. 1978. The Glass Beads of the Prehistoric and
Roman Periods in Britain and Ireland, London: The Society of
Antiquaries of London report no. 35

Henderson, J. 1982. X-Ray Florescence Analysis of Iron Age
Glass, University of Bradford: Unpublished PhD Thesis

AHG Grant Report:

A 'true' Roman glass: evidence for primary production in Italy

Monica Ganio

PhD student Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Section Geology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Celestijnenlaan 200E – bus 2410, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium. Funded by Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)

[email protected]

The chaine operatoire for the production of glass in the from the Spanish and French coasts and from the land
Roman period is still the subject of a lively debate. between Cumae and Liternum in Italy were used to
Where were mass producing ‘primary’ factories situated, produced primary glass, the provenance of glass
and how was the transport of raw glass arranged? Was excavated along the Italian peninsula is being
glass production in early Roman times primarily situated investigated.
in the Near East, and was glass transported as chunks to
‘secondary’ factories to be re-melted and formed into 198 glass samples, dated to the first- to fourth-century
objects? The homogeneous composition of most Roman AD, are being studied using a combined approach of
glass seems to indicate this. Or was this stability in elemental and isotope analyses. The glass samples
chemistry due to a high number of smaller primary represent the Italian peninsula well, with specimens
workshops using similar recipes? Or did intense recycling discovered on the Iulia Felix shipwreck, sank off the
and the trade of broken glass and cullet play a role? coast of Grado (Friuli Venezia Giulia), samples
excavated in Potentia, a Roman town situated in the
With a particular eye on the words of Pliny the Elder, vicinity of Ancona (Marche), from the famous towns of
who wrote in his Naturalis Historiae (XXXVI, 194) that Pompeii and Herculaneum (Campania), from Augusta
sands not only from the Syro-Palestine coasts but also Praetoria, modern Aosta (Valle d’Aosta), and samples

Glass News 32 July 2012 8

discovered in the Embiez shipwreck, which sank not far has to be investigated further. The red opaque glass
from Marseille (France). The majority of glass samples shows very high concentrations of Cu, Sn and Pb, while
are colourless, both naturally and decoloured, but the blue samples have both Co and Cu in comparable
coloured glasses mainly from blue to blue-green, some amounts. Colourless glasses are rich in either MnO or
greens and yellows, and one red opaque glass fragment Sb2O5. Trace elements such as Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sb, Pb
are also included in the assemblage. and Zn are shown to be indicative of recycling, while
elements such as Zr, Hf, Ti, Sn and Cr tend to be closely
Pale blue-green pillar molded bowl associated with heavy minerals in the sand composition,
(Palestine, first century AD) © Sara Boyen and show a similar indication of provenance as isotope
analysis. 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios suggest that all of the
The use of combined elemental and isotope analysis is a samples were made using beach shells as lime source,
well-established practice in the studies of artefact while 143Nd/144Nd isotope ratios indicate a variety of
provenance. The homogeneous composition of Roman signatures, mostly associated with eastern Mediterranean
glass does not allow the use of major elements for the sands. These included areas which differed from the
discrimination of groupings with respect to the established Roman glass producing areas of the Syro-
geographic origin of the raw materials. Nevertheless, Palestine and Egyptian coasts.
trace elements can help to separate compositional groups
and to assign individual objects to them. Isotope analysis I wish to thank the Association for the History of Glass
of Sr (from the lime-rich raw materials) and Nd (from the for the generous funding that financed my travel to
heavy mineral content of the glassmaking sands) allow Shrivenham, UK, and the work at Cranfield University. A
different sand sources used for primary glass production special thanks goes to Dr. Andrew Shortland and Rita
to be distinguished and characterised. The isotope ratio Giannini, who supported and helped me carry out the
data obtained for the glass samples are compared to an LA-ICP-MS analyses.
established sand database, which also includes relevant
sands from the regions described by Pliny the Elder and I would also like to thank Dr. Patrizia Framarin and Dr.
primary glass from known production centres in the Lorenzo Appolonia of the Soprintendenza per i Beni e le
eastern Mediterranean (Brems et al.). Attività Culturali della Valle d’Aosta, for the Augusta
Praetoria glass samples, Prof. Gianmario Molin and Dr.
The elemental analyses were carried out at the Centre for Alberta Silvestri (Università degli Studi di Padova) for
Archaeological and Forensic Analysis of Cranfield the Iulia Felix shipwreck samples, Dr. Danièle Foy
University (UK) using a New Wave Research ESI 213nm (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) for the
laser ablation system coupled with a Thermo Scientific Embiez shipwreck specimens, Dr. Luigia Melillo and Dr.
X-Series 2 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer Valeria Sampaolo of the Soprintendenza Speciale di
(LA-ICP-MS). The isotope analyses were carried out at Napoli e Pompei and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale
the University of Ghent (Belgium) using a Thermo di Napoli, for the Pompeii glasses, Prof. Giacomo Chiari
Scientific Neptune multi-collector inductively coupled and Dr. Marc Walton (Getty Conservation Institute) for
mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS). the Herculaneum samples, and Prof. Frank Vermeulen
and Dr. Patrick Monsieur of the University of Ghent, for
A first look at the elemental analyses indicates that all of the samples from Potentia.
the glasses were of the soda-lime-silica type. Natron was
the flux used for most of the samples, with the exception References
of nine glass samples, all dark green in colour, that show
a higher concentration of MgO and K2O. This occurrence Brems, D., Ganio, M., Latruwe, K., Balcaen, L., Carremans,
M., Gimeno, D., Silvestri, A., Vanhaecke, F., Muchez, Ph. and
Degryse, P. in press. ‘Isotopes on the beach part 1 - Strontium
isotope ratios as a provenance indicator for lime raw materials
used in Roman glassmaking’. Archaeometry

Brems, D., Ganio, M., Latruwe, K., Balcaen, L., Carremans,
M., Gimeno, D., Silvestri, A., Vanhaecke, F., Muchez, Ph. and
Degryse, P. in press. ‘Isotopes on the beach part 2 -
Neodymium isotope analysis for provenancing Roman
glassmaking’. Archaeometry

Glass News 32 July 2012 9

AHG Grant Report:
Lenses in Roman Egypt: Archaeological and Papyrological Evidence

Jane Draycott

2011-12 Rome Fellow, British School at Rome
[email protected]

According to Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the author of the sun increases alike both at sunset and sunrise on the seas,
first-century AD Latin medical treatise De Medicina, because at those times a greater amount of vapour rises
‘there are grave and varied mishaps to which our eyes are from the water; that is, the visual rays, in passing through
exposed; and as [our eyes] have so large a part both in the this vapour as through a lens, are broken, and therefore
service and the amenity of life, they are to be looked after the visual impression is magnified’ (Geog. 3.1.5).
with the greatest care’ (De Med. 6.6.1). Scores of Seneca, writing in the mid first-century AD, states that
documentary papyri, ranging from letters, to medical ‘apples seen through glass appear much larger than they
reports, to legal petitions, attest that such ‘grave and really are’ (Nat. Quest. 1.3.9), and subsequently reiterates
varied mishaps’ occurred regularly in Egypt during the this, ‘every object much exceeds its natural size when
Roman period. However, there is also evidence to seen through water. Letters, however small and dim, are
suggest that defective vision arising from eye strain, comparatively large and distinct when seen through a
short-sightedness, or even the natural aging process, glass globe filled with water’ (Nat. Quest. 1.6.5). Two
which would today be treated with glasses or contact lenses discovered in a house at Tanis (British Museum
lenses, could have been treated similarly in the ancient inv. 27639; British Museum inv. 22522), each with an
world. Thanks to a grant from the Association for the estimated magnification of x2.5, seem to have been
History of Glass, I have been able to undertake a discovered in conjunction with blank cameos, gems and
preliminary investigation into this subject that carving equipment, and this has resulted in the suggestion
incorporates a survey of the ancient literary and that glass lenses were tools used by artisans, as a means
documentary evidence, and a study of several ancient of magnification to assist them in the production of finely
glass lenses. carved cameos and gems. If gem-carvers were using
magnifying glass lenses for fine work, it is possible that
other types of artisans, professional scribes, or even high
status individuals such as Seneca did likewise.

While this offers a plausible explanation for the way in
which the two lenses discovered at Tanis could have been
used, what about all the others? With regard to three
lenses discovered in tombs at Hawara (Manchester
Museum inv. 2090; University College London inv.
16764; University College London inv. 16765), William
Flinders Petrie experimented with them and determined
that they had more likely been used to direct light to as to
see objects from a distance, rather than for close work
such as gem carving (Petrie 1889).

Roman glass lens © Jane Draycott Alternatively, Dimitris Plantzos suggested that coloured
lenses could have been used as a means of soothing
So far I have found records of ten glass lenses recovered strained eyes, drawing on Pliny the Elder, writing in the
through archaeological excavation at various sites dating late first-century AD, who stated that ‘even after straining
to the Roman period in Egypt, and in time I hope to be our sight by looking at another object, we restore it to its
able to examine all of them to establish whether they normal state by looking at a ‘smaragdus’; and the
were used as we might use a magnifying glass, glasses or engravers of gemstones find that this is the most
contact lenses, or whether they served a different purpose agreeable means of refreshing their eyes, so soothing to
in ancient ophthalmological and medical practice. their feeling of fatigue is the mellow green colour of the
stone’ (Nat. Hist. 37.6) (Plantzos 1997). He also noted
Several Roman writers acknowledge that it was possible that numerous ancient writers recorded the role of glass
to increase the size of an image by utilising a glass lens. in kindling fires, whether accidentally or on purpose,
Strabo, writing in the late first-century BC and early first- again drawing on Pliny the Elder, who observed that ‘I
century AD, says ‘the visual impression of the size of the find that among doctors there is considered to be no more

Glass News 32 July 2012 10

effective method of cauterising parts that need such appreciate being apprised of the whereabouts of any other
treatment than by means of placing a crystal ball so examples of ancient Romano-Egyptian glass lenses.
placed as to intercept the sun’s rays’ (Nat. Hist. 27.29).
So perhaps some glass lenses could have been used by References
physicians to cauterise wounds, or even surgical
incisions. Petrie, W.F. 1889 Hawara, Biamhu and Arsinoe (London)

I intend to continue my research into the use of glass Plantzos, D. 1997. ‘Crystals and Lenses in the Graeco-Roman
lenses in Egypt during the Roman period, and would World’, American Journal of Archaeology 101(3), 451-64

Purple Window Glass — accident or design?

David Dungworth

Figure 1: Window 41 from Walmer Castle showing pink/ pinkish colour to balance the blue-green of the iron.
purple glass attributed to Earl Liverpool (1806–1828) Decolourising with manganese appears to be most
© David Dungworth effective when the glass contains roughly twice as much
manganese as iron (Dungworth and Brain 2005, fig 8).
Recent research into historic window glass has been The manganese is usually added as MnO2 and much of
carried out to establish how raw materials and batch this will be reduced to Mn2O3 or MnO in the glass.
recipes have changed over time and how this can be used
to date manufacture (Dungworth 2011; 2012). A While such glass may be colourless when made,
programme of non-destructive, in situ analysis of the prolonged exposure to sunlight often gives rise to a
windows at Walmer Castle, Kent succeeded in purple colour. The phenomenon was noted as early as
identifying numerous phases of glazing (Dungworth and 1825 by Michael Faraday (Tyndall 1870) and was
Girbal 2011). Possibly the most interesting windows at investigated empirically by Gaffield (1867) and Pelouze
Walmer Castle are the purple or pink windows (Figure 1) (1867). It is generally accepted that UV light causes the
attributed to the period when the Earl of Liverpool was oxidation of the manganese, giving rise to the purple
the Warden of the Cinque Ports (1806–1828). colour. The pink and purple glass in the windows at
Walmer Castle, however, contain an excess of manganese
It is often assumed that the purple colour of historic — MnO:Fe2O3 ratios of 4.4 and 7.5, respectively (see
window glass is not an original feature of the glass but Table 1). It is clear, therefore that the Walmer windows
has developed over time (Abd-Allah 2009). Manganese have always had the colours they current have and that
has often been added in small quantities to glass to sunlight has made little or no contribution to their colour.
counteract the colouring effect of iron (“glassmaker’s
soap”). The manganese acts on the colour of the glass in References
two ways: firstly to affect the oxidation of the iron (and
the colour it produces) and secondly to contribute a Abd-Allah, R. 2009 ‘Solarization behaviour of manganese-
containing glass: an experimental and analytical study’.
Glass News 32 July 2012 Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 9, 37–53

Dungworth, D. 2011 ‘The value of historic window glass’.
Historic Environment 2, 21–48

Dungworth, D. 2012 ‘Dating historic window glass through
chemical analysis’. Journal of Architectural Conservation 18,
7–25

Dungworth, D. and Brain, C. 2005 Investigation of Late 17th
Century Crystal Glass. Centre for Archaeology Report
21/2005. Portsmouth: English Heritage

Dungworth, D. and Girbal, B. 2011 Walmer Castle, Deal, Kent.
Analysis of the glass. Research Department Report Series
2/2011. Portsmouth: English Heritage

Gaffield, T. 1867 Action of Sunlight on Glass. New Haven, CT:
Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor, 1867

11

Pelouze, J. 1867 ‘Sur le verre’ Comptes Rendu 64, 53–66 Tyndall, J. 1870 Faraday as Discoverer. Second edition.
London: Longmans, Green and Co.

Table 1. Average chemical composition of potash-lime glass from Walmer Castle
(pXRF analysis, no data available for sodium)

colourless Na2O MgO Al2O3 SiO2 K2O CaO MnO Fe2O3 As2O3
pink NA <1.5 0.9 71.4 6.1 5.6 0.15 <0.02
purple <0.01 0.08
NA <1.5 <0.5 67.3 17.9 10.5 0.35 0.13 0.79
0.97 0.70
NA <1.5 <0.5 71.9 15.1 9.4

Cogola and all that stuff

Michael Noble

I was interested to see the name ‘Cogoli’ appear several that they took out a law suit on behalf of Bowes against
times in David Watts and Cesare Moretti’s recently Sir Edward Salter.
published book ‘Glass Recipes of the Renaissance.’ We
are told that ‘Cogolis’ were ‘quartz pebbles collected The record of the proceedings in the National Archives
from the shore of the river Ticino and also from the river contains five parchments in which one poses what
Adige (Verona)’ and used in Murano as a source of silica questions should be asked by the court; the other four
from the fourteenth to the eighteenth-century. give depositions of two Winchester House workmen
Francisco Butso and Simon Favaro. ‘Fransisco Butso
Coincidentally a reference to Cogola turned up recently Bratso’ was described as ‘an Italien of Murano,
when I was examining an early Chancery Law Suit, glassmaker’ while Simon Favaro, also a glassmaker from
Bowes v. Salter [E 133/25/21] in the National Archives, Murano, was referred to as ‘first taser’ in his deposition.
as part of my own investigations into early glass
production. As this was dated 1608 it must be one of the The second question posed by the court, and that most
earliest, if not the earliest, direct reference to glassmaking specific to raw materials, asked ‘What stuff do they
materials in this country, and I thought readers of the principally use in making glasses in the said furnace in
book might also be interested in this information. Southwark? and by what name is the same stuff called?
What do they add and put to the same stuff to make the
Sir Jerome Bowes had been granted a patent in about metal fit for glassmaking? And by what name and names
1595 for the ‘making of drinking glasses or other glasses is that called which they add to the same stuff? Whether
whatsoever like unto such as be most used made or is the stuff principally used for glassmaking in Murano
wrought in the said town of Morano…’ for which a such and so called as that which is used to the same
glasshouse in the old Blackfriars monastery had been purpose in Southwark, yea or no? And by what name is
erected. the same stuff principally used in Murano called? What
do they in Murano add and put to their stuff to make their
Sir Edward Salter on the other hand had been granted a metal for glassmaking? And by what name or names is
patent in 1608 to ‘set up and put in use the art and feat of that called which they in Murano add to their said stuff?
making of all manner of drinking glasses and other And is the stuff metal and glasses made in the Black
glasses and glassworks whatsoever of the fashions stuff Friars like to such as are most used made or wrought in
matter or metals now used made or wrought in the said the town of Murano, yea or no?’
town or city of Murano near Venice…[which was]…not
prohibited, restrained, or forbidden in or by the said In answer Francesco Butso states that ‘the principal stuff
several letters patent…made unto the said Sir Jerome where of the glasses made in Southwark as are made is
Bowes.’ This he did at Winchester House in Southwark, called soad wherewith they mingle sand, and to give him
and to help start the business brought over workmen from colour safra and manganese, of being several kinds of
Italy, probably in the same year. earthen stone. And he further saith that the stuff which
they make glasses in Murano is called cinera…to which
The person running the Blackfriars glasshouse on behalf cinera they add in Murano cogala using stones like unto
of Bowes was William Robson and his associates. They pebbles being beaten to powder, as safra [zafra] and
were concerned at the time that this new glasshouse was manganese.’ Simon Favaro gives a similar testimony in
possibly infringing their own earlier patent, so much so which he states that two kinds of soda were being used
into which they added sand, manganese and safra, and
Glass News 32 July 2012
12

although this document was particularly difficult to ‘the glasses that are most ordinary used made and
transcribe, having obviously been written by an wrought in Murano are sometime short legged, sometime
interpreter with many deletions, rewriting and alterations, long, or with ears of diverse fashion, but he hath not
the basic content can clearly be discerned. known any such glasses ordinarily used, made, wrought
in Murano, as these which he hath described to be made
Of additional interest here is the reference to the use of in Southwark,’ and that the ‘trunk and mortar glasses are
sand as the source of silica. Dossie, in his Handmaid to not like to such drinking glasses as are most used, made
the Arts of 1758, writes [p.253] ‘Flint glass, as it is or wrought in Muran, unless they be bespoken.’
called in our country, is of the same general kind with
what is in other places called crystal glass. It had this Although the outcome of the Chancery Suit does not
name from being generally made with calcined flints, appear to be recorded, the glasshouse was to remain in
before the use of the white sand was understood.’ The production for many years. It was even involved in the
implication here was that the older glasshouses used development of a coal fired furnace, to be used as an
flints rather than sand for their fine glass, which from the alternative to the traditional wood burning furnaces
above depositions was obviously not the case. which were then commonly in use. In Metallica by
Simon Sturtevant published in 1612 there is the statement
Although neither Butso nor Flavaro could give an that ‘very lately, by a wind-furnace, greene glasse, for
account of the materials being used in the Blackfriars windowes, is made as well with pit-coale at Winchester
glasshouse they were presumably the same ‘stuff,’ with House in Southwarke as it is done in other places with
sand being the source of silica, ‘soda of two sorts’ much wast & consuming of infinite store of billets and
providing the alkali or flux, and manganese and safra other wood- fuel.’ This was the start of a patent granted
being used as decolourising agents. initially to Sir Edward Zouch and others in 1611 for the
manufacture of glass using coal, which would result in
The types of wares made at Winchester House, according the eventual elimination of wood burning furnaces.
to Butso, were ‘plate, cruets, salts and stills, until about
some fourteen or fifteen days now last past since which If anyone would like more information on the documents,
time there hath been made there certain kind of glasses or would like to receive an image of them, please contact
called trunk and mortar glasses.’ He goes on to say that me at: [email protected]

The Middle Saxon Glass from SOU 1553

Genni Elliott

Matthew Garner of Southampton City Council also provided four of the six sceattas recovered from the
Archaeology Unit reports that evidence of glassworking, site.
as well as an assemblage of vessel glass, has been found
at a site in Hamwic (SOU 1553). Fieldwork is continuing The range of colours was typical of that found in
at the site as part of a watching brief. This description of Hamwic, with the majority being pale green to pale blue
the glass recovered is from a report by Genni Elliott with the one red sherd with yellow decorative trails (item
kindly made available to Glass News. 153). Six sherds were decorated (four rim and two body)
consisting of yellow trails on the body of two sherds,
Vessel Glass marvered yellow trails on three sherds and self-coloured
52 fragments (59g) of Middle Saxon vessel glass were marvered trails on one sherd.
found, including 14 rims, 4 bases, 2 decorated body
sherds, and 32 non-diagnostic body sherds. All of the Linen Smoother
rims and bases were of the palm cup / funnel beaker A curved sherd of a hollow blown glass linen smoother
series, and the non-diagnostic sherds could all have come (item 32) was found amongst the glass vessel sherds in
from the same type of vessels. There was no evidence for pit 301. It was in pale blue glass and had a wall thickness
the more unusual vessel types known from Hamwic such of 4mm. There are late seventh-century examples of bun-
as squat flasks or jars, bowls or tall beakers, but there was shaped linen smoothers (of which this may be an
a small sherd of red glass which is a rare colour in example), either as a solid lump of glass or a hollow
Middle Saxon glass (Hunter and Heyworth 1998, 35). flattened bubble (Macquet 1990). Both types are known
Most of this was from an exceptionally large rubbish pit from Birka (Arwidson 1984) and Dorestad (Isings 1980).
on the site, of which only a quarter was excavated – the Hollow examples from Middle Saxon sites in England
rest was left in situ beneath the new building. This pit include Brandon in Suffolk, Covent Garden in London,

Glass News 32 July 2012 13

Barking Abbey (founded AD 675) in Essex, and The presence of an imported pot used for the melting of
Bedfordbury (Evison 1991). glass is strong evidence for glass working in the vicinity.
Glass working However the melted glass and the glass vessel sherds
need not be contemporary as the pottery associated with
Two joining sherds of a pottery vessel used to melt the melted glass indicates an early phase of the Middle
glass © Matt Garner Saxon period with high quantities of fabric Groups 1, 2,
and 3 (Timby 1988, 112), whereas pottery associated
Two joining sherds of the base of a Middle Saxon with the sherds in pit 301 includes fabric Groups 4 and 5,
imported whiteware pottery vessel showed evidence of which are considered to be late in the Middle Saxon
being used to melt glass. They were recovered from a site sequence (ibid, 114).
layer, which also produced two large fragments of
Roman brick, one of them burnt. Similar examples of For more information, contact Matt Garner
glassy deposits in imported pots have been found on ([email protected]).
other sites in Hamwic such as SOU 33 east of St Mary’s
Church, SOU 169 at Six Dials (Andrews 1997, 217) and References
at St Mary’s Stadium (Birbeck 2005, 137). Glassy
residue on a pottery sherd was also found at SOU 514, Andrews, P (ed) The Coins and Pottery from Hamwic
only some 5m from the SOU 1553 find (Brown 1993, Southampton City Museums Monograph 4
18). The presence of melted glass at the current site adds
to the evidence for glass working within Hamwic at a Arwidson, G. 1984. Glas in G Arwidson (ed) Birka II: I, 203–
time when the Middle Saxon glass industry was 212
emerging.
Birbeck, V. 2005. The Origins of Middle Saxon Southampton:
QUERY Excavation at the Friends Provident St Mary’s Stadium 1998–
2000 Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology
Alison Maddock writes: I am hoping that someone in the
AHG might be able to advise me on the disposal of some Brown, D.H. 1993. ‘Pottery spot-date report’ In Smith, MP,
unprovenanced glass items which came into my 1993, Archaeological Excavation at Kingsland Market,
Southampton (SOU 514), Southampton Archaeology Unit
Glass News 32 July 2012 Report 328, 17 – 19.

Evison, V. 1991. in Webster, L, and Backhouse, J, The Making
of England, Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD600–900. British
Museum Press 93

Hunter, J.R. and Heyworth, M.P. 1998. The Hamwic Glass
Council for British Archaeology Report 116

Isings, C. 1980. in Glass finds from Dorestadt Hoogstraat I, in
WA van Es and WJ H Verwers, Excavations at Dorestadt, I
The Harbour: Hoogstraat I Nederlandse Oudheden 9 Kromme
Rijn projekt 225–237

Macquet, C. 1990. Les lissoirs de verre, approche technique et
bibliographique, Archaeologie Medieval XX, 319–334

Timby, J. 1988. in Andrews, P (ed) The Coins and Pottery
from Hamwic Southampton City Museums Monograph 4

possession when I was a child. They are two sets of worn
glass beads, one set of dull turquoise and green colours
labelled 'Ancient Egyptian 1500BC' and the other
reddish-brown and labelled 'Celtic 100-500BC'
(diameters from about 2mm to 1cm). There is also a
small cube of red glass labelled 'Copy of glass found in
the tomb of Tutankhamun'. They were samples from the
glass collection of Sir Herbert Jackson (1863-1936)

14

eminent chemist and metallurgist whose work included Coventry Cathedral’s medieval stained
Egyptian glass technology, I believe. I recently consulted glass
the curator of Egyptology at Bristol Museums, who
doubts the date of the beads, suggesting that if they are Repairs to the ruins of the medieval Coventry Cathedral
Egyptian then they are of late date. The similarity of the is now a World Monuments Fund Britain major project.
'Celtic' beads, apart from their colour, may suggest a Funding has been secured for urgent repairs to the worst
similar origin, which could perhaps have been elsewhere affected part of the structure, and also to pay for 60% of
in the Near East. Clearly they are of no archaeological the cost of the repair and cleaning of the collection of
use now, but would any member like to have them for outstanding stained glass which was salvaged from the
research, analysis or practice purposes? Perhaps there is building a year before it was severely damaged by
even someone who knows where Jackson sourced his bombing during WWII. Work on the glass, which has
material. been in storage for 70 years, will be undertaken by the
University of Lincoln’s conservation faculty at
If you can provide any information about these objects Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum where the
please contact the editors (see back page) public can gain access to view the work in progress from
August to October this year. Among the glass are many
NEWS examples of John Thornton’s style; he was a master
glazier based in Coventry in the early fifteenth-century
Glastonbury Abbey excavations reveal who also worked extensively at York Minster – as those
Saxon glass industry who attended the AHG meeting there last year will recall.

New research led by the University of Reading has A feature on the glass can be found at:
revealed that finds at Glastonbury Abbey provide the http://vidimus.org/issues/issue-33/features/ in Vidimus,
earliest archaeological evidence of glass-making in the on-line magazine on medieval glass that can be
Saxon Britain. Professor Roberta Gilchrist, from the subscribed to free of charge.
Department of Archaeology, has re-examined the records
of excavations that took place at Glastonbury in the There are further pictures of the glass at:
1950s and 1960s. www.bbc.co.uk/news/ub-england-coventry-
warwickshire-15694422
Glass furnaces recorded in 1955-7 were previously
thought to date from before the Norman Conquest. BOOK REVIEW
However, radiocarbon dating has now revealed that they
date approximately to the 680s, and are likely to be Glass Recipes of the Renaissance. Transcription
associated with a major rebuilding of the abbey of an anonymous Venetian manuscript
undertaken by King Ine of Wessex. Glass-making at Cesare Moretti and Tullio Toninato
York and Wearmouth is recorded in historical documents
in the 670s but Glastonbury provides the earliest and English translation with
most substantial archaeological evidence for glass- additional notes
making in Saxon Britain. David C Watts and Cesare
Moretti
The extensive remains of five furnaces have been
identified, together with fragments of clay crucibles and Watts Publishing, 2011£15
glass for window glazing and drinking vessels, mainly of plus £3.50 p+p from David
vivid blue-green colour. It is likely that specialist Watts, 27 Raydean Road,
glassworkers came from Gaul (France) to work at Barnet EN5 1AN
Glastonbury. The glass will be analysed chemically to ISBN 978-0-9562116-1-3
provide further information on the sourcing and
processing of materials. This is David Watt’s (with the assistance of Cesare
Moretti) translation of a Venetian glassmaking recipe
An exhibition at Glastonbury Abbey Museum, ‘From book dated to c.1560, which was published in Italian in
Fire & Earth’, tells the story of the Abbey’s pioneering 2001 by Moretti and Toninato. The manuscript came to
role in medieval crafts and technology, and runs until light in preparations for the 1982 exhibition
16th September 2012.
15
Glass News 32 July 2012

Glassworking Art of Murano. It dates to a fundamentally wider audience; they are clearly presented and give a
important period of Venice’s glassmaking, and can be direct link to the workshop of the Venetian glassmaker.
placed chronologically between a recipe book of 1536 Scholarship in glass studies relies on the sharing of
preserved in Montpellier, and Neri’s L’Arte Vetraria of information, and David Watts has done those of us who
1612. The book is divided into two parts: Discussion and are not fluent in Italian a great service, and at an
The Recipes. There is a small number of well-chosen extremely reasonable price.
illustrations.
Rachel Tyson
This ‘anonymous recipe book’ is an instruction manual
for an apprentice, with very detailed instructions. It Please send your contributions:
includes the ingredients for different types of glass, the
equipment and methods, various colours and enamels, for Glass News 33
and the manufacture of mosaics (including those with by
silver and gold foil) and paternosters. In addition to the
recipes, other glimpses into the lives of sixteenth-century 30th November 2012
Venetian glassworkers are touched upon. A number of
glassworkers are mentioned, and the price that a vase to either of the editors:
made of a particular type of calcedonio was sold for. It
reminds us of the clandestine nature of the Venetian glass Rachel Tyson
industry with comments like ‘this is a secret to hide’ and 25 North Street
‘this is a secret that only I know and Anzolo of the
Serena’. (The inclusion of tartar in the recipe suggests Calne
that the salts must have contained a mixture of sodium Wiltshire SN11 0HQ
and potassium, and it is suggested by the authors that this [email protected]
may have been the ‘secret’, which was common
knowledge amongst glassmakers, but kept from the or
Venetian Council, who decreed that only pure soda glass
could be made). Andrew Meek
The British Museum
Neri’s 1612 recipe book and manual has previously been Great Russell Street
the only such source available in an English translation, London WC1B 3DG
although always thought likely that it derived from earlier [email protected]
manuscripts. The discovery of this new manuscript led to
a detailed comparison by Moretti and Toninato with five THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE
other known texts dating between the fourteenth-century HISTORY OF GLASS
and 1644. The instructions of this recipe book are
‘simpler and clearer’ than some such as Neri. It uses Registered charity 275236
some ingredients and methods that differ from those in
other manuals. For examples, there is the first Board of Management
documented mention in Venetian glassworking of
antimony as an opacifier, although it is likely that it was President: Justine Bayley
in use from the fifteenth-century. There are other points Hon Secretary: Denise Allen
that the different sources do agree on, such as the Hon Treasurer: Angela Wardle
management of the furnace.
Members of the Board
This is a deeply researched and valuable volume, with
thorough comparison and discussion by Moretti and Colin Brain Suzanne Higgott Jennifer Price
Toninato, as well as additional notes by David Watts, John Clark David Martlew John Shepherd
which include further insights and references to more David Crossley Andrew Meek St John Simpson
recent publications and research. The discussion takes the Aileen Dawson Martine Newby Rachel Tyson
form of listing what each different source says about each Sarah Paynter
glassmaking instruction, and perhaps a summary of the
most relevant points, those that ‘revolutionise the 16
understanding of … the early processes of glassmaking’
would be useful. It is quite technical for a general
readership, and works best when researching a specific
point. The recipes are certainly worth translating for a

Glass News 32 July 2012

Glass News

Published by The Association for the History of Glass Ltd
www.historyofglass.org.uk

January 2013 Number 33 ISSN 1362-5195

Jennings was a very memorable day, and we thank Sarah
Paynter and Julie Edwards for organising such an
interesting and enjoyable programme. An account of the
day can be found on page 10. This covered a wide range
of periods and approaches to study. Autumn 2012 also
saw the AIHV Congress in Piran, which a number of our
members attended, and accounts of different aspects of
the week and the post-congress tour are included on
pages 4-8.

We begin 2013 with a meeting at the Georgian
Glassmakers’ workshop in Hampshire, with practical
demonstrations and presentations on making crystal glass
between 1660 and 1700. Places are limited to 15, so early
booking is advisable. A study day on What’s new in
Roman glass? is being planned for the Autumn.

The editors would like to thank this issue’s contributors
for their material; please keep it coming for future issues!
We are always happy to receive long or short pieces
about glass research or discoveries. We also need people
to write reviews of the meeting they have attended, AHG
or otherwise; please contact one of the editors before the
meeting if you would be interested in doing this. See
back page for contact details.

‘Changing the Face of Coventry’: see pages 12-13 for We can send a colour PDF version of this issue of
an article about the work of the World Monuments Glass News on request TO MEMBERS AND
Fund Britain. ©WMFB SUBSCRIBERS. Please email one of the editors (see
back page) if you would like a PDF copy. Subscriptions
Welcome to Issue 33 of Glass News! The recent AGM and memberships for 2013-2014 are due in April, and a
saw some changes to the Board of Management. We form is enclosed to send with cheques to John Clark.
extend a warm welcome to Sally Cottam. St John
Simpson, whom we thank for his contribution since he THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE
joined the Board in 2006 including his part in the HISTORY OF GLASS
organisation of the two-day York meeting, stood down as
did Sarah Paynter, previously Editor of Glass News. Registered charity 275236
David Martlew, Martine Newby and Jennifer Price were
all re-elected. Board of Management

Our recent meeting Recent Research and New President: Justine Bayley
Discoveries in Glass and Ceramics held jointly with the Hon Secretary: Denise Allen
Medieval Pottery Research Group in memory of Sarah Hon Treasurer: Angela Wardle

Members of Board

Colin Brain Aileen Dawson Martine Newby

John Clark Suzanne Higgott Jennifer Price

Sally Cottam David Martlew John Shepherd

David Crossley Andrew Meek Rachel Tyson

Glass News 33 January 2013 1

AHG SPRING STUDY DAY will be held on the first floor with access via a flight
of stairs)
The Evidence for British Crystal Glass 14.30 Practical demonstrations 2 – making vessels
1660-1700 16.30 Close

Saturday 16 March 2013 Practical details:
Project Workshops, Quarley, Hampshire The 15 available places available in this workshop setting
will be allocated on a first-come basis. The price
includes a buffet lunch and plentiful tea, coffee and
biscuits, since it is not easy to 'pop-out' for refreshments.
If you would like to attend please send: contact details, a
stamped addressed envelope and cheque for £50, payable
to: The Association for the History of Glass Ltd, to: C &
S Brain, 10 College Street, Salisbury, SP1 3AL, email:
[email protected]. For those travelling by train
(www.southwesttrains.co.uk) the nearest stations are
Andover, Grately or Salisbury. It should be possible to
arrange transport from and to one of these stations.
Please let Colin and Sue know if you have any dietary
restrictions, or wish to travel by train.

With: “Georgian Glassmakers” Mark Taylor and David AWARDS
Hill, at: Project Workshops, Quarley, Hampshire, SP11
8PX (just south of the A303 near the Thruxton racing AHG Grants
circuit in Hampshire).
See: www.historyofglass.org.uk , Grants are available from the Association for the History
www.georgianglassmakers.co.uk , of Glass, for educational or research activities consistent
www.project-workshops.co.uk. with the Association’s charitable aims. These could
include, for example, attendance at a conference to
This study day will provide a unique opportunity for 15 present a lecture or poster, a study visit, fieldwork, or
people to see practical demonstrations of late 17th- publication of scholarly works. There are no restrictions
century glassmaking techniques and to discuss evidence on who may apply or on the topics of applications, which
for how this glass was made. It aims to complement last will be judged on merit. Multiple applications in different
year’s Glass Association day on 18th-century years will be considered with individual awards up to
glassmaking held there and feature: £500. See the AHG website (www.historyofglass.org.uk)
for further details.
Practical demonstration of glassmaking tools and
techniques; An application form may be downloaded from the
Results of experimental glass melts; website, or can be obtained from the Honorary Secretary,
Archive documentary evidence for 17th-century Denise Allen. Email: [email protected]
crystal glassmaking;
Scientific analysis of archaeological glass and CONFERENCES AND
glassmaking finds. EXHIBITIONS

Approximate Programme: New Light on Medieval Stained Glass
An inaugural lecture by Ian Freestone
10.00 Arrival and coffee
10.30 Practical demonstrations 1 – the basics of lead Tuesday 12 March 2013 at 6.30 p.m.
crystal glassmaking Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building,
12.30 Lunch and opportunity to discuss documentary,
analytical and experimental sources of evidence (this University College London

Glass News 33 January 2013 With colleagues based in York and Cardiff, Ian Freestone
recently completed a major programme of scientific

2

analysis of medieval stained glass. The project, funded consist of lectures and posters in the archbishop’s palace
by the Leverhulme Trust, brought together archaeological in Narbonne; the third day will be an excursion to the
scientists, art historians and conservators in an attempt to village of Sougraigne (Aude) to see the remains of glass
ensure that the contexts of the glass analysed were fully workshops used from the beginning of the 18th century
understood. The result is a body of information which is onwards. See www.afaverre.fr for further details, or
significantly more comprehensive than has previously contact [email protected].
been possible. It is yielding new insights into glazing
practices, the sources of raw materials and the Verre et Histoire
technologies of glass production and colouration. This ‘Flacons, fioles et fiasques de la création à
Inaugural Lecture is free to the public, and places may be
booked via: l’usage’

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ah/inaugural-lecture- 4-6 April 2013
series/lectures1/inaugural-ian-freestone Venue: Rouen and the Bresle valley

TRAC (Theoretical Archaeology Group) This association in France exists to provide a forum for
different disciplines interested in the history of glass to
5-6 April 2013 exchange research and ideas, to develop understanding of
King’s College, London glass. It organises regular conferences, debates, study
days, visits and demonstrations covering all aspects of the
TRAC will include a session on New Reflections on history of glass.
Roman Glass:
For further details see the website: www.verre-
The early 21st century has seen a paradigm shift in our histoire.org or email [email protected].
understanding of Roman glass production and has led to
the development of new approaches to its study. Through Society of Glass Technology
compositional analysis of raw materials as well as
manufactured products such as beads, vessels and The Society of Glass Technology’s Annual Living Glass
windows, a clearer understanding of the complexities of Conference will be held on 11-13 September 2013 at
the role of glass in the Roman world is emerging. We can Cambridge University.
now address all elements of the chaîne opératoire from See www.cambridge2013.sgthome.co.uk for further
workshop practice and organisation through to issues details.
including trade, transport, recycling and consumption.
The study of assemblages has moved on from OBITUARIES
comparative typology to a more theoretically
contextualised analysis. There is now a new confidence Cesare Moretti 1933 – 2012
to develop models to explain individual assemblages and
their significance in a broader context. This session will The July-August edition of Rivista della Stazione
bring together established scholars in the archaeology of Sperimentale del Vetro (RSSV) carried a full page article
glass with younger researchers to explore the new in memory of Cesare Moretti. Cesare had been an active
methodologies being developed, their application and member of the AIHV, being chairman of the Italian
potential and to bring current glass research to the national committee from 2008 and president from 2011.
attention of a wider audience.
The Moretti family has been making domestic glass in
Organiser Murano for at least four generations. However, Cesare’s
Ian Freestone (UCL) career in glassmaking was essentially a technical one,
particularly as the technical director of a company
For further details see www.trac2013.org/ or contact making glass tubing. For several years he served on the
TRAC committee member Sally Cottam: technical-scientific committee of the glass research
[email protected]. establishment (SSV) in Murano.

Association Française pour l’Archéologie 3
du Verre (AFAV)
Narbonne 2013

The 28th annual meeting of the AFAV will be held from
October 4-6 2013 in Narbonne. The first two days will

Glass News 33 January 2013

He is perhaps best known to the historic glass community organized the Congress. The Congress was based in the
for research which combined his love of historical Trevisini Palace, situated on the waterfront and built
glassmaking and his extensive technical knowledge. He between 1824 and 1826. The welcoming reception there
produced many publications of historic glass recipes and saw the launch of an exhibition of glass by Marko
concerning the source, preparation and use of different Jezernik and Zvonka Požun. Opening speeches, the
glassmaking ingredients. British researchers may be General Assembly of the AIHV, the closing session of
familiar with his AIHV papers, or David Watt’s the Congress and the concluding party were held at the
translation of some of his work under the title Glass Bernardin Congress Centre, the largest convention centre
Recipes of the Renaissance, which was reviewed in the in Slovenia. Those at the farewell party were treated to a
last edition of Glass News. Less well known to British delicious moonlit buffet supper on a splendid terrace
readers will be his many contributions on such topics to overlooking the sea.
the journal RSSV.
Tartini Square and Piran’s waterfront © Suzanne Higgott
As part of his abiding passion for historic glass
technology, Cesare had a long-standing interest in the Throughout the Congress, papers were delivered in two
development of British lead crystal glass. Despite a few concurrently running sessions. The diverse array of
language barriers, we discussed the subject at intervals subjects ranged from glass jewellery to window glass,
over a period of many years. Sue and I remember with glass production sites to glass workshops, glass in burials
very great pleasure the day he organised for us on to museum collections, scientific analysis to glass trading
Murano, including visiting the renowned glasshouse of and the sociology of glass making and consumption. The
Carlo Morretti with Cesare and his brother Carlo as our geographical reach was vast: like indulged ‘armchair
guides. travellers’, we were swept along from Asia to the Middle
East and Europe, visiting cemeteries, churches and
I am sad that a recent discovery (that the Venetian shipwrecks along the way. However, presentations on
glassmaker Paul Demascelay (Demanty) worked Roman and archaeological glass were predominant. The
alongside Francis Ravenscroft at the Savoy glasshouse in Congress provided an excellent opportunity to hear a
London during the formative years of lead crystal) came number of papers by relatively local presenters on aspects
too late to share with Cesare, since I know this news of glass made or found in Slovenia and Croatia.
would have delighted him.
On the first day, Session A was dedicated to papers on
Colin Brain glass from the 2nd-1st millennium BCE, the Bronze and
Iron Ages and Hellenistic period, while participants
MEETING REVIEWS attending Session B heard papers on Byzantine and Post
Roman glass. The following morning, Session A was
19th Congress of the International dedicated to Hellenistic and the first of numerous papers
Association for the History of Glass on Roman glass, while papers at Session B covered Post-
Roman and Islamic glass. That afternoon, delegates went
Piran, Slovenia to the capital, Ljubljana, to see the glass collections of the
17-21 September 2012 National Museum of Slovenia and the Slovene
Ethnological Museum. For the final three days, Session A
An overview, with Venetian, façon de was concerned with Roman glass, while in Session B
Venise and later glass highlights consecutive days saw coverage of Islamic,

The 19th Congress of the AIHV was held in Piran,
Slovenia, which is located at the end of a coastal
peninsular, giving views onto the coasts of Italy and
Croatia. Piran is at first sight an unlikely venue for an
international academic congress on glass: a small and
picturesque historic walled seaport clustered around a
pedestrianized square named after its most famous
citizen, the violinist and composer Guiseppe Tartini
(1692-1770). Appearances can be deceptive. For Piran is
adjacent to Koper, home to the University of Primorska
Science and Research Centre Institute for Mediterranean
Heritage, and it was under its auspices that Irena Lazar

Glass News 33 January 2013 4

Venetian/façon de Venise, 18th- to19th-century, and cathedral, attributed to Perrot, glass from the building in
18th- to 19th-century and modern glass. Orléans where Perrot’s workshop is believed to have
been located and the portrait medallions by Perrot enable
The session on Venetian and façon de Venise glass the windows to be firmly attributed to him. Furthermore,
provided an intriguing glimpse into the importance of the results of the window glass analysis show that Perrot
Dubrovnik as a glass production and trading centre. was producing lead crystal glass very close in
Nikolini Topić spoke about locally found late Gothic and composition to that first produced by Ravenscroft in
early Renaissance window glass excavated between 2007 England a few years earlier.
and 2011 and attributed to Dubrovnik, described as the
most important Balkan glassmaking centre from the 14th The Trevisini Palace (centre) © Suzanne Higgott
to 16th centuries. Dubrovnik’s glass production and
trade were placed within the broader historic and political More than 30 posters were displayed at each of two
context of the city. Teresa Medici and Irena Rossi Radić poster sessions on consecutive days. Two very different
provided a fascinating survey of glass finds from a 17th- but equally fascinating posters focussed on Venetian and
century shipwreck off the island of Koločep, near façon de Venise glass. Jerzy Kunicki-Goldfinger et al.
Dubrovnik. The cargo included Venetian-style luxury reported on the analysis, by SEM and EDS, of about 50
vessels with mould-blown, opaque white and aventurine examples of blue and opaque white glass made at the
features, as well as domed panes and coloured glasses. Rozengracht glasshouse in 17th-century Amsterdam. Lisa
Where was the glass produced, what might the role of Pilosi et al. gave a report on their preliminary technical
Dubrovnik have been in its production and/or investigation into cold-painted Venetian or façon de
transportation and what was its intended destination? Venise glass at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in order
Further research may provide new information on the to determine their dating and/or origin. This project is
Mediterranean glass trade in the 17th century and the role being undertaken in the context of the opening in 2014 of
of the Republic of Dubrovnik. a gallery devoted to decorative arts of the Venetian
Renaissance, which will provide an unprecedented
Marco Verità and Sandro Zecchin presented their opportunity to display nearly 50 glasses in their broader
analysis of about 100 blue glass fragments of wide- context.
ranging date and hues found in the area of the Venetian
lagoon or ascribable to the Venetian glassmaking British presenters included past and present AHG Board
tradition. The results, which were compared with historic members: Sally Cottam, Ian Freestone, Caroline Jackson,
recipes, may help to distinguish between Venetian and Sarah Paynter, John Shepherd and Angela Wardle.
façon de Venise blue glass production.
For both the student new to the field and the renowned
Bernard Gratuze gave a multi-facetted and detailed paper specialist, the Congress provided an exceptionally
on the production, documentation and analysis of stimulating and informal environment for discussion and
aventurine glass on behalf of himself, the late Cesare the exchange of ideas and information. We owe a great
Moretti and Sandro Hreglich. The technique for debt of thanks to Irena Lazar, to her colleagues and to the
producing aventurine glass was probably discovered organizing and supporting institutions for a most
accidentally in Murano, and the first known reference to memorable and enjoyable Congress.
it dates to 1626.
Suzanne Higgott
The extraordinary survival of Archduke Ferdinand II’s
collection of Venetian lamp worked jewellery, probably 5
produced at the court glasshouse in Innsbruck, which
operated from 1570-1591, enabled Katharina Uhlir et al.
to carry out analysis to glean important insights into
lampwork production at this period. This research was
timely, as the jewellery will be displayed at the
Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna, when it reopens in
March 2013.

In the first session on 18th- to 19th-century glass,
Bernard Gratuze discussed recent developments in his
analysis of glass by or attributed to Bernard Perrot,
following on from his work in connection with the
exhibition on Perrot held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts,
Orléans, in 2010. Similarities of composition between
glass of the rose window in the south transept of Orléans

Glass News 33 January 2013

AIHV 2012: Scientific analysis and used recycled motor oil) they preferred to work glass, as
Roman glass highlights one worker put it, because it beats working outside.
Fischer also recorded a glass furnace made from scratch,
The 19th International Glass Congress took place in the a process not often performed, and studies of tools and
historic town of Piran, Slovenia, made rich in Venetian tool marks from contemporary settings. ‘Church Glass
times for its salt production and famous for its beautiful from the 4th-7th Centuries at Kilise Tepe and Alahan,
architecture and picturesque Adriatic setting. Turkey’ by Margert O’Hea explored the use of diagnostic
glassware for relative dating. Glassware at the pottery-
The Congress was attended by over 200 delegates poor but glass-rich Alahan church complex was
making this the largest gathering of glass researchers in compared to the dated church at Kilise Tepe where a
the world. The talks reflected this breadth of knowledge variety of church linked glass vessels were found: conical
having a total of 78 lectures and over 70 posters covering and hollow stemmed lamps and goblets. Alahan was
the full range of glass research, both chronologically and shown to have large donated stained glass windows,
geographically, from vitreous materials in Bronze Age likely to have been very expensive at the time.
Italy to 19th-century Chinese glass cane panels, and
everything in between. Owing to the conference’s Sarah Paynter presented a fascinating scientific report on
Slovenian location a good number of papers of glass colouration in Roman times using SEM-EDS, ICP-
pioneering research originating from the Balkans were MS and XRD analysis of glass cakes and tesserae from
presented. Trips were organised to Ljubljana and the West Clacton, Essex. Yellow and green glass coloured
National and Ethnographic museums of Slovenia, and to using a pre-made ‘anime’ were investigated by
nearby Aquileia, Italy with tours of the Roman Museum identifying un-dissolved mineral grains hinting at uses of
exhibiting a fine display of Roman glassware, the sulphide minerals, and red tesserae, coloured by cuprite
Patriarchal Basilica with its breathtaking 3rd-century yet containing lead, tin and zinc, possibly indicated use of
mosaics and frescoed crypt, and the excavated Roman silver refining waste. Good use of analytical techniques
docks and forum. enabled the disentangling of colourant components from
the base glass allowing better understanding of glass
The many highlights of the lectures included an colouration methods. Mario de Cruz’s work in Hispania
ethnoarchaeological presentation delivered with ease and provided very useful new and ongoing work in
insight by Alysia Fischer on glassblowers from current identifying glass working sites, building up a picture of
day Cairo, Syria and Jordan compared to archaeological the Roman glass industry. Criteria were used to identify
examples from Israel; noted points were that sites looking for glass waste, fragments, moils and slag.
glassworkers tend not to wear shoes, similar to Thirty-two glass workshops have so far been identified,
documentary depictions, as shoes are expensive to repair, tending to cluster around the Roman regional capitals.
and despite the risk of early death from fumes (one site Yael Gorin-Rosen gave an interesting and wide-ranging

3rd-century mosaics in the basilica, Aquileia © Sarah Paynter 6

Glass News 33 January 2013

talk on the recording and chemical analysis of raw glass cemeteries, including an intriguing 1st-century colourless
chunks recovered from shipwrecks along the Israeli beaker decorated with both indents and trails. After
coast, primarily the ports of Akko, Caesarea and Haifa, coffee and cake, we crossed the border into Croatia and
allowing data comparisons to known nearby primary headed for the capital, Zagreb. There was a choice of
production sites. This provides new information about museums on offer here. We began in the Mimara
glass trade and production in the region. The ongoing Museum, opened twenty-five years ago and based around
work indicates the wealth of information about Roman the private collection donated to Croatia by Ante and
and Post-Roman glass production provided through Wiltrud "Mimara" Topić. Here, the outstanding exhibit
underwater archaeology as dredging and storms expose was not glass, but a huge and astonishingly well-
previously unknown finds. Lastly, Filomena Gallo preserved bronze Apoxyomenos statue, discovered off
discussed a comprehensive and multidisciplinary study of the coast of the island of Lošinj in 1999. For visitors
3rd- to 8th-century glass from Aquileia. A full range of wishing to see the recovery of the statue from the sea bed
scientific analysis was performed on glasses selected by there was short video showing the process (see
typology – mould blown and free blown types – www.island-losinj.com/news/lapoxymenos_42/). We
identifying that glass compositions varied quickly got back to the glass though, and spent an
chronologically, and that composition also grouped entertaining half hour in a gallery with an eclectic display
typologically. Isotopic analysis of strontium and of ancient vessels, some clearly not quite as ancient as
neodymium tracked the changes of glass raw materials they would like to pretend – though nothing fooled this
through time showing how glass production centres and particular tour group.
trade altered into the post-Roman period. This multi-
technical approach proved very successful at Some of the group then went to explore the Museum of
understanding the history of glass trade and production as Arts and Crafts, whilst the remainder walked the short
seen from Aquileia. distance across the city centre to the Zagreb
Archaeological Museum. There seemed to be some re-
These highlights are a glimpse of the varied research organisation of the galleries taking place, but we were
topics in glass and the many methods of glass study, from treated to a behind-the-scenes tour and inspection of
typological and art-historical to scientific materials some of the glass, mostly Roman, in storage by Dr Ivan
analysis, often these techniques mixing within individual Radman-Livaja. This was followed by a delicious and
papers highlighting the multidisciplinary nature of generous lunch at one of Zagreb’s smartest hotels,
modern glass studies. The Congress talks were well fortifying us for the long trip south, down the coastal arm
received, sometimes prompting intense discussion e.g. of Croatia to Biograd and our over-night stop.
(tool cut vs. mould made marks) and overall much
enjoyed with the organisation and Friday night party a
great success. The 20th Congress is set to be held in 2015
by the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Matt Phelps

Two Days, Two Countries, Seven Glass from the Gnalić shipwreck © Sally Cottam
Museums
After several hours on the motorway, we were ready for
The AIHV Post Congress Tour bed, but there was still time for another museum before
22-23 September 2012 we turned in. The Homeland Museum of Biograd, a short
walk from the hotel along the seafront, houses the cargo
It was an early start for the coach-load of glass of a merchant ship that sank in the late 16th century just
enthusiasts who elected to extend their knowledge of the off the coast, near the tiny island of Gnalić. The large
glass of Slovenia and Croatia by taking part in the Post- collection of glassware from the wreck, published by
Congress Tour after a wonderful week of glass Irena Lazar and Hugh Willmott, is beautifully displayed
indulgence at the AIHV conference in Piran. On our first
morning we journeyed from the Adriatic coast to eastern 7
Slovenia and the museum of the Dolenjska district at
Novo Mesto. The early Iron Age gallery, with its
collection of decorated bronze situlas and strings of
multicoloured beads gave a vivid impression of the
archaeological wealth of this hilly, wooded region during
the 1st millennium B.C. There was a small but interesting
display of glass of the 1st-4th centuries AD from nearby

Glass News 33 January 2013

here, surrounded by the other items recovered from the special exhibition was on offer, this one devoted to
cargo. It was fascinating to see the glass in the context of Roman mould-blown bottles. Few of the specialists
the rest of the material from the ship including the present could have ever seen a greater number of
personal possessions, and even the clothes, of the crew. complete bottles in one room. The museum is housed in a
The cargo was extraordinarily diverse, with boxes of recently restored 19th-century palace, in an idyllic
scissors and thimbles alongside bags of small globular location overlooking the port of Zadar, where glossy
bells, razors, candelabras and rolls of silk. millionaire yachts are moored next to local fishing boats
touting excursions to the islands. This is certainly a
The second day of our tour was dedicated to two stunning museum that deserves several visits. The uncluttered
museums, the Archaeological Museum in Split, and the collections have been skilfully laid-out over two floors,
Zadar Museum of Ancient Glass. Split is about a couple and at the top of the building is a glass workshop where
of hour’s drive south of Biograd, and as the coach wound we were given a demonstration of mould-blowing. The
its way down from the bleak coastal mountains to the sea, museum’s website has much more information as well as
we had a dramatic view of the old town and new port, a gallery of photos (www.mas-zadar.hr). This was
with the central Croatian archipelago beyond. The museum number seven on our list, and so all that
Archaeology Museum was a little way from the centre of remained that evening was the long ride back to Piran.
the city and as we were pushed for time we were not able
to see the remains of Diocletian’s Palace on this tour. The
Archaeology Museum’s thoughtfully displayed collection
illustrated how closely the glass of this region can be
associated with that of northern Italy, in particular the
glass of Aquileia, which we had seen earlier during the
Conference. This visit turned into a highlight of the tour.
We were treated to drinks and local pastries in the
museum garden and we were free to wander around the
impressive outdoor lapidarium where monuments and
tombstones, many from the city of Salona, were on
display. Our group was also given the honour of being at
the opening of an exhibition which brought together a
small but fascinating group of 1st-century AD mould-
blown tablewares associated with Aristeas and Ennion,
from several Croatian sites including Narona and the
legionary fortresses of Tilurium and Burnum. Our joys
were crowned by the discovery that the museum shop
sold replicas of the famous terracotta lamp from Asseria
showing a glass workshop, leading to queues around the
block.

Demonstration of mould blowing in Zadar’s
glass museum © Sally Cottam

Delegates viewing mould-blown Roman glass exhibits The scope of the AIHV Post-Congress Tour was certainly
© Sally Cottam ambitious within a two-day time limit, and we were
reluctantly extracted from each museum as we went
There was still time to fit in one last museum before the along in an attempt to keep to schedule. The organising
end of the tour. This meant another motorway journey team should be congratulated for fitting so much in and
back up the coast to the delightful town of Zadar, home giving us all an excuse to return to spend more time with
to a museum dedicated to ancient glass. Here another these wonderful collections.

Glass News 33 January 2013 Sally Cottam

8

The 27th symposium of the Association L’Aquitaine avant César’ and, in honour of the
Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre symposium, there were demonstrations of glassmaking in
the museum’s courtyard.
Bordeaux
9-10 November 2012 The papers were broadly divided thematically over the
two days, the first day comprising those relating to
The 27th ‘Rencontre’ of AFAV was held at the Musée Aquitaine, the second day those on France more
d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux on 9 and 10 November 2012. It generally and international subjects. The majority of the
was attended by 115 participants, the majority French, papers were about Roman period finds excavated at
but there were also delegates from Belgium, England, French sites, including burials, domestic buildings and a
Italy, Portugal, Spain and the USA. English attendees glass workshop, but other papers discussed glass from the
included AHG board members Sally Cottam, Suzanne Merovingian and Carolingian periods through to the 18th
Higgott and Jennifer Price. century. There was one archeometrical study, presented
by Inès Pactat, and one paper on glass conservation,
The symposium was organized under the auspices of the given by Chantal Fontaine. Among papers about glass in
Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux 3. the local region, some contributions drew on
Participants were treated to a rich and multifaceted documentary sources. Christophe Baillet surveyed the
programme. It was a considerable challenge to do even incorporation of glass in church reliquaries in south-west
partial justice to the multitude of opportunities on offer. France from the 12th to 17th centuries, drawing on
There were 21 oral papers and 9 posters as well as glasses archive material and surviving examples, while Anne
for sale and a bookstall to browse. The latter included the Bernadet’s paper considered documentary information
current (2012) and various back issues of the about the employment of three glass painters in early
Association’s ‘Bulletin’, and, hot off the press, ‘Le verre 16th-century Bordeaux to examine the socio-historical
en Lorraine et dans les régions voisines: Actes du context in which glass painters practised their trade in the
Colloque International, 26e Rencontres de l’AFAV, city at that time. Other papers focussed on glass relating
Metz, 18 et 19 novembre 2011’, edited by Véronique to Bordeaux’s commercial importance, especially as a
Arveiller and Hubert Cabart, Editions Monique Mergoil, port and wine producer. Prior to the delegates’ visit to the
Montagnac, 2012 (50 euros). It was not possible to gain Musée des Arts décoratifs, Geneviève Petit and Catherine
more than a superficial impression of the superb, Hébrard-Salivas gave a fascinating talk on the museum’s
chronologically themed displays of our host museum, the glass collection. The museum is housed in the delightful
quality and range of whose artefacts reflects the enduring late 18th-century Hôtel de Lalande. There is a good
importance of the port city of Bordeaux as a major collection of 16th- to 19th-century glass and the holdings
trading and cultural centre. Our meeting coincided with of French glass are a particular strength.
the museum’s exhibition, ‘Au temps des Gaulois:

AFAV Delegates at the Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande © Suzanne Higgott 9

Glass News 33 January 2013

Fish vase on display in the Château © Suzanne Higgott Duncan Brown introduced the morning session, speaking
about Sarah’s strong convictions and influence on finds
On Sunday morning many delegates joined the optional research. He and the subsequent speakers spoke warmly
excursion to see the glass collection in the Château of Sarah. While the papers covered a broad variety both
Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac. A geographically, in date, and their research approach to
beautiful, sunny morning saw us driving past numerous glass and ceramics, they were united by Sarah’s strong
châteaux set amidst autumnal vineyards to our destination conviction that there should be collaboration between
château, which is modelled on the Hôtel de Lalande in different finds and aspects of archaeology in order to
Bordeaux. After enjoying the extensive views from the identify patterns and place them in their social context.
garden and an introductory talk, we were able to admire The importance of funding post-excavation work and
the large and diverse array of glassware displayed publication was a recurring theme, with Sarah having
throughout the ground floor of the château, which is been responsible for securing funding for so many
furnished in a contemporary style but also has portraits of ‘backlog’ excavations, and bringing them to fruition.
the château’s 19th-century owning family. We were
treated to a feast of fascinating glasses produced over Hilary Cool spoke about the challenge of creating some
more than 2,000 years and from a variety of glassmaking order out of the finds from a summer school excavation
traditions. The collection is particularly rich in late 19th of Pompeii Insula VI.I. The glass and pottery analysis
to early 20th-century French glass by Gallé, Lalique and shows patterns in their use by period and function, and
Daum and stunning contemporary pieces by such diverse the project continues to experiment with ways of
artists as Jean-Paul Van Lith (France), Dale Chihuly producing meaningful information from the data. Sarah
(USA) and Hiroshi Yamano (Japan), to cite just a few Paynter continued the Roman theme on the subject of her
examples. Viewing this stunning array of glasses over a work with Nadine Schibille researching the chemical
glass of the château’s own red wine against a backdrop of constituents of the variously coloured glass from the
sunkissed vineyards: what better way could there be to Chester amphitheatre project. This showed that the
conclude an AFAV symposium in Bordeaux? coloured glasses must have been a specialised product,
and that the red and green glass contains plant ash rather
Suzanne Higgott than the more usual natron.

Recent Research and New Discoveries in Katherine Barclay took us to early medieval Winchester,
Glass and Ceramics where Sarah had been a volunteer at the excavations in
her early days in archaeology. The ceramic tiles
The Wallace Collection, London decorated with bi-coloured glaze made a stunning
16 November 2012 impression, possibly to resemble a carpet, but despite
analysis of the different tile fabrics, their origin remains
This conference in honour of Sarah Jennings was held an enigma.
jointly by the AHG and the Medieval Pottery Research
Group (MPRG). It was extremely well-attended, and the After lunch Tony Wilmott chaired an even more diverse
audience consisted both of friends and colleagues of afternoon session. This began with St John Simpson
Sarah, and those drawn the quality of the programme. presenting an overview of the finds from Siraf, a port on
Congratulations and many thanks to Sarah Paynter the Persian Gulf, where excavations had been established
(AHG) and Julie Edwards (MPRG) for their superb in the 1960s by Max Mallowan. Sarah had been a
organisation of a very memorable day. leading finds assistant from 1966-73, and had continued
to work on the finds after funding had run out. There was
Glass News 33 January 2013 a considerable amount of glass ware, and possibly also
glassworking; other interesting finds included evidence
for shellworking, bone doll heads, small decorated
spindle whorls, and an unusual lack of hairpins, all
reflecting everyday life in a Persian port around the 8th to
10th centuries AD.

Ian Freestone’s lecture was entitled ‘Red, White and
Blue: the Origins of Medieval Window Glass’, and
explored the scientific evidence for the colourants used in
window glass from the early medieval period to the 12th
century, particularly from York. He proposed that Roman
tesserae were used in large numbers to provide the glass
colour once the supply of fresh glass from the east dried
up. The research has been enhanced by the use of the

10

Diamond synchrotron facility near Oxford, which can well, with everyone seeming to enjoy themselves. As it
reveal how coloured glasses have been mixed throughout has been reported in some detail by Brian Clarke in the
this period. Summer edition of “The Glass Cone”, this is only a brief
summary for AHG members who are not also members
Jumping from science to the design style of ceramic tin- of the GA.
glazed jars, Michael Hughes (and on behalf of Hugo
Blake) considered an early 14th-century jar excavated in Mark and David started by explaining their workshop and
Norwich that Sarah attributed to Orvieto in her 1981 tools, including the obligatory safety briefing, before
publication. More recent research in this area has shown demonstrating the properties of glass and the effects these
that many jars that were attributed to Orvieto are actually have on how it is worked. The morning demonstration
from other sources, although the origin of Sarah’s jar then covered detailed techniques such as gathering,
remains uncertain. Michiel Bartels from Archaeologie shaping, blowing and the use of moulds; and adding
West-Friesland in Hoorn gave a fascinating insight into stems, bowls, feet, prunts and handles. This culminated
the large ceramic fire covers used in the area in the late in Mark and David making two-part drawn-stem glasses
16th and 17th centuries. Their internal lack of soot with air-twists in the stems. The high standard and
indicates they were purely decorative, and had diverse historical accuracy of Mark and David’s glasses can be
styles, including dramatic scenes of Dutch patriotism, seen from www.georgianglassmakers.co.uk. Fortunately
trade, and moral themes. George Haggarty presented his all their glassware is signed and dated on the underside of
research into the archaeological evidence for the tin- the foot near the pontil mark.
glazed products made by the Delftfield pottery in
Glasgow from 1748 to 1826. Unfortunately it suggests Watching glassblowing can generate quite an appetite, so
that most of the good quality ceramics attributed to the ample buffet lunch was most welcome. It was locally
Delftfield were probably from other locations, including prepared using local farm-sourced ingredients wherever
Ireland, since none of the excavated fragments were at all possible. A number of delegates left with food parcels to
well-made, but quite frankly the bottom of the market. take home, rather than let any of this excellent food go to
waste.
Finally, the audience was spellbound by Frans Verhaeghe
and his passionate consideration of the future for finds The afternoon centred on the complex subject of making
research. It is not always appreciated how important opaque twist stems. In preparation for this Mark and
objects are on many different levels in telling the story of David had made a video showing a range of different
the past. He had discussed academic approaches with stem forms being made. This was backed-up with
Sarah many times, including how the need to specialise samples of the stem ‘carrots’ produced, both before and
in finds for practical reasons creates its own problems after twisting. Despite watching the video, seeing the
and a danger of isolation. He suggested priorities for samples and then watching live demonstrations, it was
future research should include tightening up post- still difficult sometimes to reconcile the processes with
excavation and publishing more, enhancing quality the outcomes. Visualising how an embedded multi-spiral
control, continuing to expand standards and guidelines, column will deform when twisted into a corkscrew takes
contextualizing finds, and my favourite, ‘be a a lot of thought and Mark made the practice appear less
Benedictine monk’ – the basic data are important and old effort than the theory! The afternoon finished with
approaches are still useful! demonstrations of how to make several different glasses
chosen by members of the audience.
The day ended with a wine reception and veritable feast
of canapés, where a toast was made to Sarah, and good Compared with topics such as glass recipes, uses and
company enjoyed. decorations, little work has been published on how
glasses were actually made and decorated, so the day
Sarah would have loved it, and we miss her. provided a rare opportunity for those attending to gain
more insight into the skills, tools and methods involved.
Rachel Tyson
Originally, two study days were planned to complement
Glass Association visit to Georgian each other, one on late 17th-century glassmaking
Glassmakers: “Let’s Twist Again” techniques to be run by the AHG and this one on the 18th
century run by the Glass Association. The 17th-century
June 2012 meeting advertised in the last edition of Glass News has
had to be postponed and will now take place on 16th
June’s Glass Association (GA) visit to see Mark Taylor March 2013 (see details of future meetings).
and David Hill demonstrate Georgian glassmaking
techniques was oversubscribed. The day went off very Colin Brain

Glass News 33 January 2013 11

Changing the Face of Coventry

Jules Osborn, World Monuments Fund, Britain

[email protected]

Since the inclusion of the iconic ruins of the former Much of the Coventry glass is considered to be that of
Cathedral Church of St Michael, Coventry on the 2012 Thornton.
World Monuments Watch, World Monuments Fund
Britain (WMFB) has been working to safeguard their The medieval glass of St Michael’s – from Thornton
future. In the summer of 2011, the ruins developed onwards – eventually found its way up to the clerestory,
sudden and alarming cracks. For a place that was re-leaded in random mosaic panels, as Victorian
bombed in 1940, cracks may seem to be par for the windows took up the prominent aisle and apse windows.
course, but St Michael’s is no ordinary building. It But when war broke out in 1939, it was removed from St
retains the tallest spire of any medieval parish church, a Michael’s and placed in storage.
masterpiece of design and the city’s beacon. Tragically,
it is also important as Britain’s only cathedral to be This outstanding collection, including pieces of the very
destroyed by war. But there’s even more to it. highest quality, gives us a glimpse of society six
hundred years ago: medieval architecture, animals and
Hidden away in storage beneath Sir Basil Spence’s new flowers; the initials of wealthy locals and guilds that
cathedral are over 7,000 fragments of stained glass funded the church; winged angels sit side by side with
removed from the higher windows of St Michael’s scenes from daily life; and the faces of Coventry’s
before the devastating bombing. Unseen by the public citizens still shine out. Today, this salvage represents
for over 70 years, these precious works of art portray the Britain’s largest collection of loose medieval glass.
life of the city from the 15th century to the late 19th
century. However, this precious and rare stained glass was at
immediate risk. The facilities used to store the delicate
Amongst our native arts, few are as compelling as glass were unsuitable and, as things stood, its future was
stained glass. This material has a special relationship uncertain. As the modern cathedral has limited storage
with Coventry. Six hundred years ago, stained and provision, the fragments had been housed on glass trays
painted glass was ubiquitous, but the best work was in hot and dry conditions. The delicate pieces were
reserved for great churches like St Michael’s. When it starting to show stress – crazing and ‘crizzles’ were
was built, at the turn of the 15th century, the city was forming – leading to their structural breakdown, so
home to the nation’s most important glazier, John urgent conservation work was required in the summer of
Thornton. Here, he introduced a lighter, more elegant 2012 to halt the deterioration. Each piece was covered
style of glass art that would inform the next century. in centuries of dirt; the glass also needed more stable
Thornton went on to create the largest of all our and secure conditions. The faces, creatures, scripts,
surviving medieval windows – the superb east window angels and flowers – a medieval encyclopedia –
of York Minster for which the contract of 1405 survives. deserved to be seen and enjoyed by visitors who could
help put Coventry on the cultural map.

Glass before and after bonding and cleaning: A feline, probably a cat, which the 13th-century Bartholomaeus
Anglicus regarded as ‘a full lecherous beast in youth, swift, pliant, and merry, and leapeth and resteth on everything
that is to fore him’. This character may however be an alert, wild ‘cat-a-mountain’, a symbol of Edward the Black

Prince (1330-76), son of Edward III, who owned the nearby Manor of Cheylesmore, and who gave Coventry the title
‘Camera Principis’. ©WMFB

Glass News 33 January 2013

12

is to showcase it and put it on view to the public as
never before, benefiting both Cathedrals Quarter and
Coventry as a whole.

Conservation in Action Live – glass conservation An angel holding the centre of a scroll or a symbol of
studio at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Christ’s Passion. Note the peacock feathers as a
Coventry). Crick Smith University of Lincoln
suitable model for angels: peacock flesh was thought
conservators ©WMFB to be incorruptible, whilst the ‘eyes’ of their feathers

From August until November 2012, Crick-Smith foresaw common human fate. ©WMFB
Conservation of the University of Lincoln conserved the
glass in full public view in the Herbert Art Gallery in the A selection of the conserved Coventry glass will be on
Cathedrals Quarter, via Conservation in Action Live, display until 26th January at the exhibition Giving our
while the leading authority on John Thornton, Dr Past a Future: The Work of The World Monuments
Heather Gilderdale-Scott identified and catalogued it for Fund, Britain at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.
the first time. A detailed article on her research will be
published in Glass News later in 2013.

As part of the wider project at St. Michael’s, WMFB
commissioned a Conservation Management Plan to
enhance the available spaces around the city’s
Cathedrals Quarter and link them so that they become
more useful and coherent, reinforcing the character and
story of the city. Subject to a successful fundraising
programme in 2013, this will also incorporate plans to
realise the contemporary value of its ancient assets
including the wonderful stained glass. The ultimate goal

AHG Grant Report:
ToF-SIMS examination of ancient and historical glasses

Dr Chloë N. Duckworth

[email protected]

The AHG provided me with a grant to cover the costs of conference aspect and a workshop designed to introduce
attending the second NARNIA workshop, ‘Integrated researchers to a range of analytical techniques used to
Approaches to the Study of Historical Glass’, held in study glass. Talks were given by established experts in
April as a part of the SPIE’s 2012 conference on the field, including Patrick Degryse and Ian Freestone.
Photonics, at the Square Meeting Centre in Brussels.
I contributed to the conference aspect by presenting
The workshop was highly successful in its aims of recent research conducted along with Frank Rutten of
facilitating multi-disciplinary approaches to the study of Keele University, and Julian Henderson of the
ancient and historical glasses, and contained both a University of Nottingham. Our paper, entitled ‘ToF-

Glass News 33 January 2013 13

SIMS examination of ancient and historical glasses’ technology, and provenance of such inclusions, but the
focused on the development of an analytical technique work we are developing indicates that ToF-SIMS may
not usually applied to archaeological problems: ToF- be able to provide evidence on all of these aspects. This
SIMS. We have shown that this technique, which is is particularly significant for the earliest glasses known
uniquely capable of high spatial resolution surface from Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece, as it provides
mapping of elements, ions, and isotopes is ideally suited direct indications of the production technology, trade in
to the study of ancient and historical opaque glasses, raw ingredients, and degree of specialisation involved in
which owe their opacity to the presence of small light- the development of the nascent glass making
scattering inclusions. technology. We intend to conduct further research using
this technique, and hope that other researchers will
Previously it has been necessary to make certain realise its benefits.
assumptions about the composition, production

WEBSITE RESOURCES NEW PUBLICATIONS

Glass in the Staffordshire Hoard Imperfect Perfection - Early Islamic Glass

The Anglo-Saxon Hoard found in Ogley Hay in July Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar, Michelle Walton,
2009 is made up principally of gold objects, many of Marc Pelletreau
which have cloisonné decoration. Initially, all the red
transparent stones observed in the Staffordshire Hoard Published December 2012
were believed to be garnets. However, to date 17 objects Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing
have been identified as featuring glass inlays, in red, blue Hardback: 144 pages
and green glass. Analysis of the glass continues at the Language: Arabic
British Museum as part of the Staffordshire Hoard ISBN 978-9992194621
research project. Details with close-up photos can be £35
found on the website.

http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/the-glass-in-the-
staffordshire-hoard

Two cells in a pommel filled with red glass to imitate A rare look into the glass collection of the Museum of
garnet. Note the difference in lustre between these Islamic Art, Qatar, through the eyes of an ancient and
and the surrounding garnets. © Staffordshire Hoard medieval glass expert and aficionado. Imperfect
Research Project Perfection summarises the material culture of glass from
the time leading up to and during the Islamic Golden
Glass News 33 January 2013 Age, providing insights into the artefacts, history and
process of discovery. The glass is extravagantly
photographed to reflect the intimacy of the objects.

14

BOOK REVIEW Odacio Formica’s glasshouse at Smithfield, Dublin 7’
discusses the evidence for the late 17th-century
Glassmaking in Ireland from the medieval glasshouse in the context of both the development of the
to the contemporary area as a planned estate and the development of lead
crystal in Ireland and England.
Ed. J M Hearne
Published November 2010 John Cockerill’s paper on ‘Glassmaking in the North of
Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ireland, 1750-1914’ identifies 13 sites, of which the
310+xxvi pp, 54 figs, 31 colour plates, index longer-lived were the eight in the Belfast area. Each site
ISBN 978-0716531067 is described in turn, with details of ownership, duration
£45 and nature of the production given. Colin Rynne then
writes about ‘Cork City Glassworks, 1782-1841’ in the
The demise of the Irish glass manufacturing industry in context of contemporary developments elsewhere in
the early 21st century provided the stimulus for this Ireland. No archaeological evidence has been found for
handsome volume which collects together 14 papers on two of the three Cork glassworks but 19th-century
aspects of glassmaking in Ireland. Despite its title, the drawings of them illustrate the article.
volume has only brief mentions of pre-17th-century glass
in its first two chapters (‘Irish glassmaking in its wider The next three papers all relate to glassmaking in
context’ by Hugh Willmott and ‘Medieval stained and Waterford. John M Hearne’s subject is ‘Irish enterprise,
painted window glass: the Irish problem’ by Josephine English alchemy and the creation of a brand: The
Moran), both of which draw heavily on comparable but Waterford Glassworks, 1783-1823’ which sets out the
better known material from England and note the roles foundation of the glassworks and its rapid development,
played by English craftsmen in Ireland. Moran also draws producing all types of glass but focussing on quality
on documentary sources and provides good accounts of rather than quantity. One high quality product was flint
recently excavated window glass and a dump of glass which led to the commissioning of two large
workshop waste from Irish sites. chandeliers for the Parliament House in Dublin, the
In ‘Sand and Ash: Glassmaking in early seventeenth- subject of Donnachadh Ó Ceallacháin’s contribution,
century Ireland’ by Jean Farelly the historical ‘The Waterford Chandelier: An elegant glass lustre of the
background, the personalities involved and the nature and Waterford Manufactory’. Details of the operation of the
locations of the earliest glasshouses, including the glasshouse can be inferred from a surviving annotated
remarkably well-preserved upstanding furnace from sketch which is the considered by Anna Moran in
Shinrone, are discussed, while the customers for this ‘Technology and Innovation: Interpreting a sketch of the
glass and the prevailing market conditions are the subject Waterford Glasshouse drawn in 1823 by the architect C R
of Nessa Roche’s contribution on ‘Seventeenth-century Cockerill’. Her discussion centres on the nature of the
Irish flat glass: its makers and their markets’. Franc glass production at Waterford and the relationship that
Myles paper on ‘The archaeological evidence for John the managers had with the technology available to them.

Glass News 33 January 2013 Then follow two papers by Mary Boydell – to whom the
whole volume is dedicated – reprinted from The Glass
Circle: ‘The Pugh Glasshouse in Dublin’ and ‘Recently
discovered signatures on glass from the Pugh Glassworks
in Dublin’. The Pughs originated in Cork but most
probably came to Dublin in the early 1840s. A major
product of their glasshouse was wine glasses that were
cut or engraved, and two of the immigrant Bohemian
glass-cutters are known by name. Not all the cutting was
of the highest quality, and cheap souvenirs and lamps for
railways and lighthouses were also made; the glassworks
closed in 1890.

The final group of papers looks at the various types of
glass produced in Ireland in the 20th century. Nicola
Gordon Bowe writes on ‘Harry Clarke, An Túr Gloine
[the Tower of Glass] and the early twentieth-century Irish
stained glass revival’. She sets out the historical
background to the development of stained glass window
production in Ireland at this time, the origins and links

15

between the various studios and the Irish artists who were STILL AVAILABLE
recruited to work in them. Tina Hunt and Audrey
Whitty’s paper, ‘The industrial design of Waterford glass, The AIHV publishes the proceedings of its Congresses in
1947-c.1965’, describes the re-establishment of glass a series called Annales du Congrès de l'Association
production in Waterford after a gap of nearly a century Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre. The contents of
by a Czech industrialist. Designs were based on 18th- and these volumes can be consulted on the AIHV website:
19th-century Irish glass and all were mouth-blown and http://www.aihv.org/en/aihv_publications.html.
hand-cut; success again was due to the quality of
production. The final paper is by Joseph McBrinn whose The Annales of the 14th (Venice-Milan) and 16th
subject is ‘“A mouthful of zephyrs”: The studio glass (London) congresses are still available at a cost of £18
movement in Ireland, 1973-2003’. He notes that ‘… glass each, including postage. Copies can be ordered from
as an artistic medium, without question, has left a Justine Bayley ([email protected]; Howcroft,
glowing legacy in Irish cultural history’ – a comment that High Street, Harmondsworth, Middx, UB7 0AQ.
could equally be applied to the whole volume which Cheques should be made payable to The Association for
presents major aspects of the story of Irish glass in an the History of Glass Ltd.
attractive and accessible form.

Justine Bayley

Please send your contributions:
Finds • Research • Ideas • Enquiries
Publications • Conferences • News

for Glass News 34
by

3rd June 2013

to either of the editors:

Andrew Meek
Department of Conservation and Scientific

Research
The British Museum
Great Russell Street

London
WC1B 3DG
[email protected]

or

Rachel Tyson
[email protected]

Glass News 33 January 2013

16

Glass News

Published by The Association for the History of Glass Ltd
www.historyofglass.org.uk

July 2013 Number 34 ISSN 1362-5195

The spring and autumn 2014 meetings of the AHG are
currently being organised. The first of these meetings will
focus on the use of glass in jewellery of the Renaissance
and later periods. For more information see page two.

We are always on the lookout for information on
interesting finds, new research, ideas, queries, new books
and reviews, and any other glass-related news or
meetings. The editors’ details are given on the final page.
We look forward to receiving your contributions for issue
35.

FACEBOOK

The Association now has a Facebook page! To keep
up-to-date on news and current research on the history
of glass visit:
facebook.com/TheAssociationForTheHistoryOfGlass
Click ‘Like’ and please share.

REMINDER

MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Would
you like to enjoy all the wonderful Glass News
pictures in colour? If so, please email one of the
editors (see back page) and we will also email future
issues of Glass News to you as a full colour PDF!

The Great Glass Slab at Bet She’arim © A. Meek THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE
HISTORY OF GLASS
Welcome to Glass News Issue 34!
Registered charity 275236
This issue is packed with details of forthcoming
meetings, reviews of meetings past and new books, and Board of Management
an extended section on queries and current research.
Many thanks to everyone who has sent in contributions! President: Justine Bayley
Hon Secretary: Denise Allen
The spring 2013 AHG study day on British Crystal Glass Hon Treasurer: Angela Wardle
1660-1700 was a great success. A review can be found on
page seven. Members of the Board

The autumn 2013 meeting of the AHG will be held at the Colin Brain Aileen Dawson Martine Newby
Science Museum’s Dana Centre on the 15th of John Clark Suzanne Higgott Jennifer Price
November. This meeting will appeal to all with an Sally Cottam David Martlew John Shepherd
interest in ancient and historic glass because a very David Crossley Andrew Meek Rachel Tyson
diverse range of glass types will be discussed. Further
details can be found on page two. 1

Glass News 34 July 2013

AHG MEETINGS have a topic you would particularly like to hear about,
please get in touch with the Honorary Secretary, Denise
A Miscellany of Glass Allen ([email protected]). Full details will be
New Discoveries and Hidden Treasures included in the January 2014 newsletter and will be put
on the AHG website as they become available.
Friday 15 November 2013
Science Museum’s Dana Centre, London, SW7 5HD OTHER MEETINGS

Please join us for a day of presentations and discussion, YOCOCU 2014
highlighting the diversity of ancient and historic glass
and providing guidance on the identification and 23-25 June 2014
assessment of glass assemblages. Agsu, Azerbaijan

The morning sessions will include presentations on how YOCOCU (YOuth in COnservation of CUltural heritage)
to appraise glass assemblages for archaeological was born in 2008 with the aim of realising a network
assessments, on key reference publications and among young professionals and researchers, working in
collections, on how to spot fakes and forgeries, and on different fields of Cultural Heritage. The next YOCOCU
useful pointers in the identification of glass of various edition will be held from 23 to 25 June 2014 in Agsu,
periods. In the afternoon there will be shorter Azerbaijan.
contributions on individual groups of glass that deserve
to become known to a wider audience. Finally, specialists Abstracts can only be submitted online via the conference
in glass of all periods will be on hand to discuss website; visit: www.yococu.com and click on ‘Call for
informally individual vessels and fragments brought abstract 2014’.
along by delegates.
Abstracts must describe in a succinct manner (max. 1
We have already heard from contributors who would like page) the purposes and results of the research so that the
to present the glass on which they have been working, or quality, originality, and comprehensiveness of the work
participate in the general discussion and identification can be evaluated by the conference chairpersons. Original
sessions. If others would like to give a short presentation papers addressing interesting and relevant topics of
or bring along any glass pieces or photographs then YOCOCU will be considered for the publication.
please get in touch with Sally Cottam via email at Accepted papers will be published by The Periodico di
[email protected] Mineralogia.

This study day has been designed to appeal to all those Topics: 1. Metals, 2. Stone, 3. Glass and Ceramics,
with an interest in ancient and historic glass and to 4. Pigments and Paintings, 5. Organic materials and
highlight the role of the Association for the History of Textiles, 6. Cultural and Educational Experiences,
Glass as a network for dialogue on all aspects of the 7. Archaeology and Integrated Studies.
subject.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
If you would like to attend, please send your full contact
details and a cheque for £20 (members of AHG), £30 8th Interdisciplinary Conference and
(non-members) or £10 (students) payable to the Round Table: History of Glass
Association for the History of Glass Ltd to: Denise Allen,
8 St Catherine's Road, Southampton SO18 1LJ, UK. 14-15 November 2013
Alexander Dub ek University of Tren ín, Slovakia
Members wishing to attend the AGM of the Association
only, which will be held on the same day, may do so free This conference has two parts: Part 1: History of Glass
of charge. 2013, which is traditionally dedicated to various areas of
life, science and research connected with the history of
AHG Meetings in 2014 glass in Slovakia. The working language is Slovak. This
part aims to gather specialists from social, natural and
In 2014 we plan to run two one-day meetings. The first technical sciences, glass specialists from the field, the
will revolve around the use of glass in jewellery of the industry and the broad glass-interested public for an
Renaissance and later periods. It will be held in London exchange of current fundamental information about
in the spring. If you would like to speak at the meeting or historical glass and the history of glass in Slovakia and in
international research. Part 2: Glass Beads and Glass
Glass News 34 July 2013
2

Technologies is international: the working language is of the museum: Abbey Museum of the Dunes, Vrije
English. This part of the conference is thematically Universiteit Brussel (Department of Applied Physics and
oriented on glass beads and the historical technologies of Photonics – B-PhOT), the Royal Institute for Cultural
glass production from ancient times until the 13th- Heritage (KIK/IRPA) and UGent (Henri Pirenne –
century AD. Institute for Medieval Studies).

Preliminary programme For more information, visit:
Part 1, 14 November 2013 en.tenduinen.be/activiteitendetail.aspx?id=5666
08.00-09.00 Registration of participants.
09.00-12.00 Welcome speeches, scientific programme – Society of Glass Technology
selected lectures on historical glass in Slovakia and the Annual Conference:
international problems of historical glass research. Living Glass
14.00-18.00 Scientific programme – round table, posters
and artefacts (including posters for Glass Beads and 11-13 September 2013
Technologies). Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
Part 2, 15 November 2013
08.30-12.00 Opening of the international part, scientific The 2012 SGT conference will be held at the University
programme for Glass Beads and Technologies, lectures. of Cambridge. The three threads of Science, Art and
14.00-18.00 Scientific programme, lectures, the Technology will be covered: Science will cover key
conclusion of the conference. themes from novel materials and fabrication routes to
structure and properties; Technology will include areas
Please send confirmation of participation together with a such as the environment, fuel usage, modelling and glass
summary of your paper (no more than 10 lines) by 30 applications; and Art and History will make reference to
July 2013 to Dr D. Staššíková-Štukovská: the long traditions of stained glass in the colleges and
[email protected] religious buildings of Cambridge.

There is no conference fee for active participants. Travel, For more information see:
board and accommodation during the conference are to www.cambridge2013.sgthome.co.uk
be paid individually. Registered participants will be
informed about their inclusion in the conference Recent Advances in Glass, Stained Glass
programme, and about accompanying events in Tren ín and Ceramics Conservation
and surroundings. Any information requests can be sent
to the organisers at the email address above. 7-10 October 2013
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
6th International Colloquium, Lost Luster
For the first time, the interim meeting of the ICOM-CC
2-4 October 2013 Glass and Ceramics Working Group and the Forum of the
Abbey Farm Ten Bogaerde, Koksijde, Belgium International Scientific Committee for the Conservation
of Stained Glass (Corpus Vitrearum-ICOMOS) will be
Innovative interdisciplinary research on archaeological organised as a joint conference. In this joint conference
window glass in North Western Europe (10th-18th- delegates will have the opportunity to gain from the
centuries). shared experience of both groups and learn from the
interactions and exchanges that are a central part of the
The 6th international congress of the Abbey Museum of conference experience.
the Dunes will present findings about:
Aims of the conference:
Archaeological collections of window glass in North
Western Europe. To present relevant case studies in the conservation of
Production, exchange and social value of window glass, stained glass, and ceramics.
glass through history. To disseminate research results in the field of cultural
heritage.
and focus on the contribution of applied scientific To promote the application of new materials and
research within an innovative framework of technologies for conservation practice as well as tools
interdisciplinary research. for analysis and documentation.
To identify further research and to provide networking
This congress is the official start of the research project for future activities.
‘Lost Luster’ (2013-2015). In this project four partners
join forces to study the large collection of window glass 3

Glass News 34 July 2013

Target audience: Corning Museum of Glass, volume 1 (2010), making the
ancient and medieval glass collections in the museum
Conservators working in museums and in private among the most comprehensively published in the world.
practice. He also worked in association with researchers in other
Scientists specialising in conservation. museums on projects to produce exhibitions and
Students interested in glass, stained glass, and catalogues, such as Glass of the Caesars 1987 (with D B
ceramics. Harden and K Painter, British Museum and H
Architects, engineers, master glaziers, and glass Hellenkemper, Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Köln),
painters dealing with stained glass in situ, curators and Glass of the Sultans 2001(with S Carboni, Metropolitan
administrators in charge of museum collections or Museum of Art, New York) and Roman Cameo Glass in
cultural heritage sites. The British Museum 2010 (with P Roberts and V Tatton-
Brown, British Museum and W Gudenrath, Corning). At
The four-day conference will include thematic sessions the same time he was closely involved with the
on research in progress and case studies related to glass, International Association for the History of Glass,
stained glass, and ceramics. About 25 posters will be serving as President from 1991 to 1995 and chairing the
displayed. A visit to the Ateliergebouw housing the Organising Committee for the 15th Congress which was
Conservation workshops of the University of Amsterdam held in New York and Corning in October 2001, a month
and the Rijksmuseum and the Laboratories of the after the destruction of the World Trade Centre. He
Cultural Heritage Agency, on Tuesday afternoon and remained as a member of the Board of AIHV until 2012.
several post-conference tours will be offered to allow
participants to explore stained glass in situ as well as David was a generous communicator, sharing his
museum collections in The Netherlands. knowledge and ideas at conferences and in discussion
and giving support to the work of younger researchers.
For more information visit: www.iconcorpus2013.nu He had a particular interest in the potential of modern
experimental glassworking for interpreting ancient
OBITUARY production techniques, returning to aspects of this subject
in several publications, in association with practitioners
David Bryn Whitehouse such as Bill Gudenrath (Corning), Mark Taylor and
David Hill (Roman Glassmakers, Andover) and George
15 October 1941-17 February 2013 Scott (Edinburgh). The last time I saw him, at the 19th
Archaeologist and museum director Congress of AIHV in Piran, Slovenia in September 2012,
he was clearly enjoying the opportunity to do research
David Whitehouse, who was 71 when he died in Corning, without distractions and was full of plans for future
New York State, on 17 February this year, was an publications. His death so soon afterwards is a great loss
internationally renowned glass scholar. He had a wide both for glass studies and for everyone who knew him.
range of research interests focused in the Roman, Islamic
and Medieval periods, and over five decades he published Jennifer Price
a large number of books, articles and notes on glass and
on archaeology in Europe and the Middle East. EXHIBTION

After earlier appointments as Director of The British Glasstress: White Light/White Heat
Institute of Afghan Studies in Kabul and Director of The
British School at Rome, David joined The Corning 27 November 2013-26 January 2014
Museum of Glass in 1984 as the Chief Curator and
between 1992 and 2011 he was the museum’s Director A selection of glass from the exhibition Glasstress: White
and Executive Director. He then became the Senior Light/White Heat, a collateral event at this year’s Venice
Scholar. During this period he was a major contributor to Biennale, will be at the Wallace Collection from 27
studies in ancient glass. November 2013 to 26 January 2014.

Within Corning, he organised exhibitions, set up the The artists involved in Glasstress in Venice during this
glassmaking school, edited and wrote for the Journal of year’s Biennale include Fiona Banner, Cornelia Parker,
Glass Studies and worked towards the publication of the Joana Vasconcelos and Hussein Chalayan. In a
collections of Roman, Sasanian and Islamic glass. Five of collaboration between Venice Projects, the London
the catalogues have already appeared, Roman Glass in College of Fashion and the Berengo Studio, artists
the Corning Museum of Glass, volumes 1-3 (1997-2003), worked with Murano craftsmen to create work in
Sasanian and Post-Sasanian Glass in the Corning response to the themes of light and heat (hence the title
Museum of Glass (2005), and Islamic Glass in the
4
Glass News 34 July 2013

White Light/White Heat). This winter, Glasstress will be Bohemia, Low Countries… ) over an extensive period
in London for the first time, when selected works from (16th-18th-centuries). This production is known as façon
the exhibition will be on show at the Wallace Collection, de Venise. Furthermore, specialists agree that some
providing a fascinating counterpoint to the museum’s examples are in fact copies or fakes made in the 19th-
collection of historic Venetian and façon de Venise glass. century, as a result of the high prices collectors were
paying for Venetian Renaissance glass.
For more information visit www.glasstress.org
This project has been extended to incorporate a historic
AHG GRANTS and stylistic study of Venetian Renaissance enamelled
glass, alongside and in tandem with the physico-chemical
Grants are available from the Association for the History studies being carried out by the C2RMF on glasses in
of Glass, for educational or research activities consistent various French collections.
with the Association’s charitable aims. These could
include, for example, attendance at a conference to The first results of our analysis have established a range
present a lecture or poster, a study visit, fieldwork, or of compositional groups: typical Venetian Renaissance
publication of scholarly works. There are no restrictions recipes (vitrum blanchum and cristallo) and others that
on who may apply or on the topics of applications, which are not specifically Venetian – perhaps contemporary
will be judged on merit. Multiple applications in different (16th-century), or later, even problematic (17th- 19th-
years will be considered with individual awards up to century) (I. Biron and M. Verità, ‘Analytical
£500. See also the AHG website for details investigation on Renaissance Venetian enamelled glasses
(www.historyofglass.org.uk). An application form may from the Louvre collections’, Journal of Archaeological
be downloaded from the website, or can be obtained from Science, 39 (2012) 2706-2713).
the Honorary Secretary, Denise Allen. Email:
[email protected] In addition to those objects in French collections that can
be firmly dated, it is essential for the next phase of the
CALL FOR INFORMATION project to include analysis of well dated and/or well
documented glasses which can serve as references by
Venetian enamelled glass from reliably which to gauge the groups that have been identified
dated contexts through chemical analysis. Recent finds of enamelled
glass fragments datable to the Renaissance in
Since 2009, the laboratory of the Centre de Recherche et archaeological contexts (Italy, France, Hungary, Great
de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF) has Britain, Russia…) provide rare and indisputable evidence
been involved in a research programme concerning about this problematic production.
enamelled and gilded Venetian Renaissance glass in the
Musée du Louvre, in collaboration with F. Barbe The C2RMF is currently appealing on a European-wide
(curator), R. Barovier (independent Venetian glass level for information about such objects or fragments in
specialist) and M. Verità (research scientist specialising museum collections or from archaeological excavations;
in glass at the Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali this quest will lead, at the next stage, to requests to
Antichi (LAMA) – Università IUAV, Venice). The analyse some of this material.
purpose of the project is to establish, through chemical
analysis of the glass and enamels, the criteria that enable We would be very grateful for any information about
Venetian Renaissance enamelled glass to be items relevant to this research project. If you can provide
distinguished from façon de Venise production. The information, please contact Isabelle Biron at the
database being developed is the first to be dedicated to following address: [email protected]
this subject.
Isabelle Biron
Indeed, in spite of the interest shown by collectors, C2RMF
museums and specialists for more than a century,
questions still remain to be answered about Venetian MEETING REVIEWS
enamelled glass. Although, since the mid-19th-century,
the majority of these glasses have been attributed to International Festival of Glass
Venice, it seems that Venetian production, which met
with enormous success in Europe, was quickly imitated 24-27 August 2012
in many other glassmaking centres (Tyrol, Austria,
The fifth International Festival of Glass was held in
Glass News 34 July 2013 Stourbridge from 24 to 27 August 2012. Amongst other

5

things the festival celebrated 400 years of glassmaking in sophisticated courtly art in Europe, as princely patrons
Stourbridge (see www.ifg.org.uk/glass-festival.html). As attracted the best Venetian masters to come and work in
in previous years there were far too many events to their own glasshouses. But many questions remain,
attempt to attend all of them, but one of the highlights for especially in the lesser-studied 1600s. How can we
me was the Dial Glassworks (Plowden and Thompson) distinguish between Venetian and façon de Venise glasses
tour. made elsewhere and on what basis might we attribute
façon de Venise glasses to particular centres? What does
Strictly it should be called the New Dial glasshouse, archaeological evidence have to tell us about the demand
since it relocated in 1779 to take advantage of the for Venetian glass and the way it was imitated elsewhere
opportunities offered by the new canal (see Graham using different raw materials and methods of making?
Fisher’s excellent book “Jewels on the Cut”). Although How did the Murano glasshouses respond to competition
truncated about 80 years ago, it is the last working glass from foreign glasshouses in developing new recipes and
cone in Stourbridge. Learning from the last festival, two techniques? How can we interpret Venetian inventory
tours were scheduled this year instead of one, but our tour references to glass types? What can scientific analysis tell
was still over-subscribed and had to be split to manage in us about differentiating between glasses made in different
the building. The glasshouse has clearly seen better days, centres or distinguishing genuine Renaissance glasses
or perhaps I should say better centuries, but it represents from 19th-century fakes?
remarkable continuity. If one expected a business such as
this to be backward-looking and living on past glories, On the Ponte dell'Accademia © D. Thornton
this tour would come as a complete shock. Current These are the kinds of questions addressed in the Study
products include: wing-tip lamp glasses for Swedish Days on Venetian Glass of around 1600, organised by the
Airforce Gripen jet fighters (they were found to perform Istituto Veneto di Scienze, lettere ed Arti between 27
better than the competition, particularly in supersonic February and 1 March 2013. These sessions brought
rain erosion); night-vision goggle compatible filters for together a variety of knowledge and experience from
US Marine Corps Harrier jets tested individually for across Europe, the USA and the Russian Federation.
compliance to spectral-transmission standards; and Glassmakers, curators, conservators and scientists as well
precise sub-micron-diameter glass tubing for advanced as independent scholars and dealers exchanged
brain surgical applications. information and planned new collaborations and
publications.
All the products seemed to have in common was that they
were made of glass and that they required large amounts Rosa Barovier and the delegates discussing glass from the
of skill, knowledge and problem-solving to satisfy the collections of the Museo del Vetro © A. Meek
extremely demanding standards required by their
customers. The large number of glass recipes needed is Rosa Barovier Mentasti and Cristina Tonini set the scene
evidenced by the different bags of cullet stored in bins for in introducing the various analytical tools available for
repeat orders. The old works seemed to lend itself to this, the study of Venetian glass in this period: inventories of
with new partitions being erected and old ones torn down Muranese glassmakers, paintings, and the evidence of
and furnaces being moved in and out to meet the next surviving glasses. Marco Verità taught two sessions on
challenge. It is a reminder that glass has always been
fundamental to science and engineering and that this is 6
unlikely to change over the next 400 years!

Colin Brain

Study days on Venetian glass

27 February-1 March 2013
Venice, Italy

The technical finesse and inventiveness of Venetian glass
from Murano was one of the outstanding achievements of
Italian Renaissance art. Demand for Venetian styles,
designs and techniques not only fed exports but led to a
diaspora of Venetian glassmakers as they set up
glasshouses throughout Europe, making glass in the
Venetian style (à la façon de Venise). We know a great
deal about how Venetian-style glass became a highly-

Glass News 34 July 2013

raw materials, casting and handling techniques and on workshop on Saturday 16 March. Since only eight people
technical innovations of the late 1500s and 1600s. attended, there was plenty of opportunity to steer the
Isabelle Biron took us through the analyses she has been demonstrations to focus on points of major interest. Mark
doing with Marco Verità on 20 glasses from the Louvre. Taylor started the morning session by introducing the
Reino Liefkes discussed the splendours of Venetian glass workshop, fixtures and tools and demonstrating some of
to be seen in the VAM, and Suzanne Higgott of the the properties of glass on which glassmakers rely when
Wallace Collection showed us fascinating hybrid glasses producing blown ware. There are some significant
made from two or more parts of different – often differences between reproducing 17th-century glass and
authentic – glasses of the 1500s and 1600s. Eva that from the 18th-century. One of these is that the glass
Putzgruber told us about the lampworked treasures made is generally blown much thinner. The first picture shows
at the Innsbruck court glasshouses under Ferdinand of Mark and David adding a blown, hollow, stem to the
Tyrol, which are now on view in new displays in the parasion that will eventually make the bowl of the glass.
KHM in Vienna. Conservation issues were analysed by Another difference is in the use of moulding on bowls,
Corinna Mattiello, while Käthe Klappenbach told the stems and feet, so most demonstrations included different
story of the Venetian chandelier in courtly interiors from kinds of moulding. Three of the glasses produced on the
the late 1500s onwards. In between the papers on each study day, or during practice for it, are shown in the
day there were more informal talks and lively second picture.
discussions.

We finished in Murano, with demonstrations of the
glassblowing techniques thought to have been used in the
1600s, as demonstrated by William Gudenrath of the
Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass. Finally we
handled unusual glasses from the stores of the Museo del
Vetro in Murano.

William Gudenrath demonstrates 17th- Glassworking demonstration © C. Brain
century techniques © A. Meek There is no way of knowing whether modern techniques
used to reproduce historic glass are identical to those
These study days are a part of the important Glass in used originally. One can only judge the validity of these
Venice Project, a collaboration between the Musei Civici techniques against the speed and ease of using them and
di Venezia and the Istituto Veneto. Another element of the correspondence between the finished results and the
the Project is the creation of a website which will become original glasses. Mark and David certainly made the
the main source of information on Venetian glass for a making of these glasses look easy and I doubt if many
worldwide public. It is to be hoped that the conference people would easily be able to tell the difference between
papers, or videos of them, will be posted on the website. the glasses produced on the day and those that originally
graced the shelves of the glass-sellers! It is a good thing
Dora Thornton that these reproductions are all signed! I found the day
The British Museum both very informative and enjoyable and have the
impression that this view was shared by all involved.
The Evidence for British Crystal Glass
1660-1700 Glasses produced for the study day © C. Brain
Colin Brain
16 March 2013
7
The study day: “The Evidence for British Crystal Glass
1660-1700”, was held at the Georgian Glassmakers’

Glass News 34 July 2013

Note on two 1st-century AD glass vessels from London

Michael Marshall

Museum of London Archaeology
[email protected]

Introduction decorative traits are combined elsewhere on 1st-century
This note directs readers attention to two interesting blue glass vessels of somewhat different form with
Roman glass vessels dating to the 1st-century AD inturned rims found at Vindonissa, Switzerland (Berger
recovered during a watching brief at the junction of 1960, 82, no 210) and at Fréjus, France (Cottam and
Cheapside and Old Jewry in the City of London Price 2009, 205, no. 155) .
(Sitecode: JWR11). The work was undertaken by
Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) for the City of
London Department of Planning and Transportation1.

A total of seven sherds of glass were recovered, two Figure 2: Naturally coloured blue-green mould blown cup with
yellow-brown and four naturally coloured blue-green. gladiator decoration © MOLA/Daniel Bashford
Forms could only be assigned to the sherds comprising
the two vessels reported here. The glass was found Glass cup (Figure 2)
together with a large assemblage of pottery which Accessions 1-3, Context 15
provides a relatively tight Late Neronian – Early Flavian Mould blown natural blue-green ovoid gladiator cup.
date, c. 60/1-75 AD, and this is consistent with the dating Three fragments from the lower part of the body. Rather
of the glass. It is also possible that this dumped material narrow base. Base diameter: c. 40 mm.
is related to a substantial early Flavian stone building,
part of which discovered c. 15 m to the south during
excavations by MOLA on the adjacent site at No 1
Poultry (Hill and Rowsome 2012, 90-93, fig 82, B18/48).

The Vessels

Figure 1: Yellow-brown cup with opaque white rim trail The surviving section has a pelleted border across the top
© MOLA/Andy Chopping and Daniel Bashford and is divided in half by two vertical mould seams.
Decoration in each half comprises a pair of gladiators
Glass cup (Figure 1) with interposed palm leaves. In the best preserved half
Accession 4, Context 15 the two gladiators are almost complete and the remnants
Free blown yellow-brown vessel, probably a cup. Upright of their names can be read as […]V[…]VS and
fire rounded rim with a horizontal opaque white BVRD[O]. Burdo turns away and raises his hand in a
marvered trail and a figure of eight neck fold above a gesture of capitulation. Judging by the visible equipment
convex body. Rim diameter: 64 mm. this is the classic pairing of the murmillo vs thraex
classes of gladiators. Enough remains of the other half to
Glass belonging to this tradition of strongly coloured show that the figure on the right is facing away from his
vessels, sometimes with opaque decoration in another opponent and he may be grasping a palm leaf but the
colour, dates to the early-mid-1st-century AD and thus names and the class of the gladiators is obscure.
tends to be of Claudio-Neronian date in Britain (Cool and
Price 1995, 56-60). The overall distribution of these Ovoid cups date to around the third quarter of the 1st-
vessels suggests they may have been manufactured century AD (Price and Cottam 1998, 61-3). They are rare
within the region encompassing northern Italy, southern in London with only four of the 39 mould blown cups
France, Switzerland and Austria (ibid., 56). from the city attributable to this form and this seems to
bear out a wider pattern whereby cylindrical cups are
This form has not previously been recorded from London more common than the oval examples. The relative
and both the figure-of-eight neck fold and the white rim proportions vary, however, in different parts of the
trail are quite unusual in Britain. However, these two Empire perhaps reflecting differences in supply
(Sennequier et al. 1998, 78-9). This example does not
Glass News 34 July 2013
8

appear to conform to any of the moulds groups defined is to be published elsewhere (Marshall and Thorp in
by Sennequier et al. (ibid., 24-76) and I would be very prep.).
interested to hear of other instances of cups from this
mould or any other which depicts the gladiator Burdo. References
Berger, L. 1960. Römische Gläser aus Vindonissa
Acknowledgements Veröffentlichungen Gessellschaft pro Vindonissa Basel.
Professor Jennifer Price was kind enough to comment on Cool, H.E.M. and Price, J. 1995. Roman vessel glass from
the glass and offered some very useful references. Thanks excavations in Colchester 1971-85. Colchester Archaeol Rep 8.
are also due to Dr Roger Tomlin for his reading of Cottam, S. and Price, J. 2009. ‘The early Roman vessel glass’
Burdo’s name. in Ch. Goudineau and D Brentchaloff, Le Camp de la Flotte
d’Agrippa a Fréjus. Paris: editions Errance, 205, no 155.
I am also grateful to colleagues at MOLA for their work Daykin, A. 2012. Old Jewry Dropshafts, London, EC2, City of
on the project and for permission to provide details and London, Unpublished Watching Brief report.
images of the vessels here. The watching brief was Hill, J. and Rowsome, P. 2012. Roman London and the
carried out by Andy Daykin and the project was managed Walbrook stream crossing: Excavations at 1 Poultry and
by Julian Hill and David Divers. Amy Thorp reported on vicinity, MOLA Monograph 37.
the pottery from the site and her dates are cited above. Maloney, C. 2012. London Fieldwork and Publication Round-
The illustrations are by Daniel Bashford and the up 2011, London Archaeologist 13, supplement 2, 53.
photograph is by Andy Chopping. Marshall, M. and Thorp A. (in prep). ‘Three Roman vessels
from Old Jewry / Cheapside, London, EC 2’, submitted to
Note London Archaeologist.
1. Summaries of the watching brief are available (Daykin Price, J. and Cottam, S. 1998. Roman-British Glass Vessel: A
2012; Maloney 2012, 53) and a more discursive account Handbook, CBA Practical Handbook in Archaeology 14.
of the finds from the watching brief and their significance Sennequier, G. Hochuli-Gysel, A. Fünfschiling, S. Berger, L.
Nelis-Clément, J. and Landes, C. 1998. Les verres romains à
scènes de spectacle trouvés en France, Association Française
pour l’Archaéologie du Verre.

AHG Grant Report:

Sand and Glass Workshop

26-28 April 2013
Matt Phelps

University College London
[email protected]

Primary glassworking waste at Apollonia © M. Phelps meeting was firstly to give researchers in glass studies a
chance to visit the places where glass was produced, the
The AHG provided me with a grant to cover the costs of raw materials procured and visit the main export cities.
attending the Sand and Glass Workshop organised by Secondly, the round-table presentations allowed current
Yael Gorin-Rosen (Israeli Antiquities Authority) and Ian research into the ancient glass industry to be showcased,
Freestone at the University of Haifa over a period of new findings reported, new scientific techniques
three days. Israel was a primary and vital component of espoused and future developments and goals determined.
the Roman and post-Roman glass industry and was the Finally the meeting was an important element of student
ideal location for this gathering. The purpose of the training for NARNIA funded students. This conference
was a follow-up to a successful glass conference held in
Glass News 34 July 2013 Israel in 1998, the result of which helped stimulate the
advances in Roman and post Roman glass research in the
succeeding years.

Friday 26th saw the start of the meeting in Tel Aviv,
however on Thursday, early arrivals were treated to a
tour of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem by Natalya
Katsnelson, the extremely knowledgeable curator of
glass. The glass collection was stunning and extensive,
and proved very popular with delegates. The official
schedule started with a tour of ancient Apollonia by Prof.

9

Oren and Ruthy Jackson-Tal. Highlights were the Byzantine glass furnace at Apollonia, Israel © M. Phelps
remains of a Late Roman tank furnace. The benefits of
seeing production furnaces in real life were quickly Session 2 dealt with sand. Dorit Sivan and Yeol Roskin’s
apparent in understanding the processes involved; heat useful paper on the history and geology of the coastal
damage to the furnace lining could be examined, glass sands of Israel was followed by a fascinating paper on
variations due to oxidation seen, and the strong off-shore Patrick Degryse’s work on provenancing glass using
wind highlighted the benefits of a coastal location. Other neodymium isotopes. His work showed that sand from
notable sites were the Byzantine era port, city walls and Israel and Egypt cannot account for all the glass
crusader fortress, and a Byzantine period winepress next production seen in the Roman and Post-Roman periods,
to piles of glass working debris – the site of more primary he also commented on an apparent explosion in glass
glass working. Before leaving, food and refreshment production locations during the Roman period as seen
were provided, however of more immediate interest were from neodymium isotope signatures. Dieter Brems
boxes of primary glass working waste and raw glass continued this theme with reports of a detailed
chunks, these were quickly examined and photographed, compositional study of 178 coastal sands from Italy,
and will no doubt feature in future lectures. Apollonia Spain and France. He found only three to be suitable for
was followed by the very impressive ruins of Caesarea, Roman glass production and another three only suitable
the main Mediterranean port in the Roman period, and with the addition of lime, showing that glass suitable
ended at the Dor Museum. The building once housed a sands are really quite rare.
19th-century glass bottle works which had been
wonderfully restored and now contains an eclectic mix of Caroline Jackson began session 3 with a comprehensive
objects from Dor’s history, Napoleonic and Egyptian era, and very valuable evaluation of the main glass
as well as specifically glass related items such as Roman compositional groups so far identified in Roman glasses,
and Byzantine vessels and raw glass chunks. notably the chronology of the different groups and the
prevalence of recycling. Anastasia Cholakova elaborated
Saturday saw a trip to the Jewish Necropolis of Bet on this work by discussing her findings from 4-7th-
She’arim. We were shown some of the many impressive century sites in Bulgaria, identifying a HIT glass group,
tombs, however, the site is most famous for the great while Daniela Rosenow talked about Roman and late-
glass slab held in the Cave of the Museum, an abandoned Roman glass excavated from Bubastis, Egypt, noting the
Byzantine cistern (see page one). First discussed, dominance of Egyptian compositions over Levantine
sampled and analysed by Robert Brill, the slab still has groups.
the hole in its centre where a large core of glass was
removed in the 1960s excavation. The slab was large, an In session 4 Susanna Greiff’s discussed the trade in glass
estimated eight tonnes, an opaque dirty greenish-purplish between three different European sites in the 5-7th-
colour with surface features that could be from centuries as seen from glass compositions, culminating in
outgassing. Many photographs were taken and its Ian Freestone’s paper noting the shift in production in the
formation and surface features debated. The return to the late 4th-century to Egypt, the growth of HIMT and the
Bay of Haifa included a small stop at Jalame, a secondary use of trace elements to help identify groups and
production site from the 4th-century, passing by the River recycling. The discussion, skilfully chaired by Marie-
Belus, the site of glass making sand made famous by Dominique Nenna, provided a chance for all present to
Pliny and eventually to the medieval city of Akko where engage in the talks. Topics ranged from reasons why
tours of the medieval city and Crusader compound of the HIMT production started in Egypt when Israel was the
Knights Hospitaller were given. centre of Roman glass making, types of fuel employed
and where it was procured, and a call from the
Sunday’s round-table talks were held on the 30th floor of archaeologists that archaeomaterials scientists should
the Eshkol Tower at Haifa University. After the provide more typological information about their glass
welcoming speech by Prof. Sariel Shalev, Marie- samples when publishing.
Dominique Nenna opened the first session discussing
current work in Egypt, tank furnace excavations in the The conference was a great success, it brought the current
Wadi Natrun, and the trade in HIMT glass. Whilst Yael researchers and students together to talk about the cutting
Gorin-Rosen gave a synopsis of the considerable glass
working finds from Israel; around 100 secondary 10
production sites so far discovered, a number of primary
production furnaces, and notably the 17 tank furnaces
from Bet Eli’ezer found in 1992. Current excavations
continue at the sites of Horbat Biza and Horbat Hanut.
Ehud Galili ended the session with a discussion of raw
glass cargoes found off the Israeli coast.

Glass News 34 July 2013

edge of glass research and discuss the future direction of us to ensure that at the next conference in 15 years’ time
the field, highlighting the important questions. It is up to that some of these questions have been answered.

QUERIES AND finished item was manufactured using these. In early
CURRENT RESEARCH glass there was a tendency to collocate raw material
extraction and initial glass melting. The raw glass may
I am descended from Joseph Stock who I understand with then have been worked on site or shipped for subsequent
his uncle Thomas Shutt were partners in the British glass working elsewhere. This pattern can give the
Crown Glass Company, which operated on the site of opportunity of localising the source of the materials and
what later became the Bournville Cadbury site. The the initial melting. From the 17th-century onwards, initial
business was acquired by Chance Bros after Thomas glass melting and its subsequent working tended to be
Shutt’s death in 1822 and ultimately folded into collocated, but raw materials could travel considerable
Pilkington. After the sale Joseph continued as a glass distances English 18th-century vessel glass, for example,
merchant and other Shutt and Stock family members was made using potash from Russia, Sweden, and New
were also in this business in and around Liverpool, England; saltpetre from India; and borax from Nepal. So
Birmingham and London. scientific analysis alone may not provide a good basis for
confident attribution of the origins of 18th-century glass.
I am interested in finding out anything I can
about the British Crown Glass Company and its partners If I recall correctly, Olive Jones from Canada did
and other family members. Any suggestions as to anyone her PhD on bottles imported into Canada. I think she
who may have research in this area would be most published some of this material in the Corning Journal of
appreciated. Glass Studies and if you are not aware of this work come
back to me and I will find out the references. There is
Stuart Bright also a book due out shortly on Modern Methods of Glass
[email protected] Analysis which may provide some useful information. I
think David Dungworth has also published something on
I am interested in the international movements of English analysis of bottles from a Bristol glasshouse in Post
glass during the 18th-century, particularly in the form of Medieval Archaeology.
bottles to the Caribbean. I am thinking of trying some
XRF studies in an attempt to source the glass and will be My impression is that bottle making in
working with Dr Bruce Kaiser of Bruker international in Gloucestershire was done on a very tight budget, so that
the Caribbean this summer to this end. what went into the bottle mix was what was cheap at the
time, e.g. soap-boilers' waste, blast furnace slag, etc. It
I was wondering if you could suggest any may be possible analytically to identify 'signatures' for
material that may help? Anything that may suggest some different kinds of waste in bottles and from documentary
kind of compositional similarities or historical or sources to identify possible locations for this mix of
typological documents would be brilliant. My aims industries.
would, if possible, be to prove that English glass,
particularly from Gloucester, was being sent to the West Colin Brain
Indies.
Follow-up
I would really appreciate any help you may be Thank you so much for your reply.
able to give me.
Your comments have reinforced some of the
Charlotte Goudge issues I have been encountering. There is a huge quantity
[email protected] of research on early glass, particularly Italian, which is
fascinating but does not really relate to my interests.
Response
I may be able to help a little having been involved in an I have very little background in this scientific
extended study on English 17th- and 18th-century vessel field but I would very much like to learn, what has been
glass with David Dungworth of English Heritage and also suggested to me is the possibilities of using pXRF to
having done some work on the vessel glass from Port examine the chemical composition of any vessel shards
Royal in Jamaica. we pick up. Do you have any opinions on whether this
would work?
Some very successful work has been done using
scientific analysis to estimate the origins of early glass, I am also interested in vessel typologies, I have
but there are a number of challenges to replicating this seen the SHA one and an Ivor Noel Hume one but I was
with post-medieval glass. At best, glass analysis can wondering if you had seen any?
provide data on the raw materials used and how the
Response
Glass News 34 July 2013 The use of portable XRF is becoming popular in a
number of archaeological applications, but there are a
couple of limitations for use on archaeological glass. One

11

is that unless you use a pXRF with inert gas spray the to Ireland in company with other glassmakers. Whilst I
emitted radiation from the lighter elements is absorbed by can find no evidence to substantiate this, it does seem
the air. For glass this affects the measurement of sodium credible. This opens up two possible ways of finding
and magnesium. The other issue is that XRF measures Edwards. A significant number of glassmakers leaving a
the composition of the surface of the glass, so if any glasshouse is likely to coincide with it closing (either
surface alteration has taken place over the years, what before they left, or because they left). One possibility for
one measures is the altered surface, not the original glass. this might be Chepstow, near Bristol which I think closed
One way to overcome this is to deliberately break the around the right date and whilst operating advertised the
shard and measure on a newly broken edge, but this kind of wares later successfully produced in Belfast. The
depends on having a pXRF with a small measurement other approach is to look for evidence of other
area. Whether these are major problems for you will glassmakers travelling to Ireland from the Bristol area at
depend on what key composition parameters you will be about the same time as Edwards. Once again I think
looking for in the shards and what standards you use to Chepstow has a candidate, but I am away from home at
calibrate against. the moment and so cannot consult the relevant books.

Typologies for glass tend to be specific to Another possible approach is that Bristol is one
applications and I do not recall any generic ones. I have of the few glassmaking centres that has some
found that I have a copy of Olive Jones et al. Glass glassmaking apprentice records. It is some while since I
Glossary please let me know if you would like a copy. looked at abstracts of these and then only in relation to
late 17th-century glassmaking, but I think they are held
One thing that occurred to me is that I am not by the Record Office there. However, given the mobility
sure if you are interested in glass exported to the of glassmakers, Edwards may not have been apprenticed
Caribbean from Gloucester/Bristol area or only glass at Bristol. I suppose it is credible that the reference to
made in that area and then exported. The reason for the Bristol is because that is where he sailed from, in which
distinction is that I recall looking at Port Books for case he may have come from places like Stourbridge
Bristol and the other local ports and seeing a surprising (although I can find no reference there) or Bridgewater.
import trade in glass items particularly from France, One even longer shot is that I think Broadfield House
some of which may then have been re-exported. It is Museum in Stourbridge has an index of glassmakers that
some time ago since I looked at them, but I seem to was compiled several years ago. I have never used it and
remember the Caribbean destination in most cases was I don't know anyone who has, but it might be worth a try.
given as Nevis. I understand that was usually the first
landfall, not the destination for the cargoes. Sorry that I haven't been able to provide any
more useful answers, but unfortunately the published
I work for an archaeological company in Northern record on British 17th- and 18th-century glass history is
Ireland and we are currently in the process of writing up a very patchy. In my experience there are flaws in quite a
report on three glass kilns excavated in Belfast. As part of bit that is published, so much so that one researcher I
our research we are tracing the glass manufacturers who know is very reluctant to believe anything except a
constructed the kilns and we are having real difficulty primary source! I cannot think of anyone else to suggest
tracking down the origins of one ‘Benjamin Edwards’. who might know.
Westropp in his book on Irish Glass refers to him as a
‘Bristol glassmaker’, however we have trawled through Colin Brain
the books and journals on the Bristol glass makers and
cannot find a trace of him. I was wondering if there is any I cannot find any Benjamin Edwards for the dates you
chance any of your members have heard of him prior to quote. There is one, but he is well into the 19th-century.
his arrival in the Irish records? Any help would be greatly Sadly the surviving burgess and apprentice records for
appreciated. the 18th-century are incomplete. As well as these records
I also have the poll books for elections, plus many other
Also, if any members would be interested in documents on my computer. They have also produced
viewing the catalogue of the excavation site, please get in nothing.
touch.
I have a William Edwards who was described as
Colin Dunlop a glassmaker on 1st April 1754 when Gordon Cole
Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd became a free glassmaker because he married Mary, a
[email protected] daughter of William. I know nothing further about
William. He could well be a brother or cousin of
Responses Benjamin.
I have had a quick check in all the usual places on-line
and in print and have turned up little more than you have I have done a search for Benjamin Edwards in all
already found. The only point which emerged was an my records of Bristol glass and glassmakers and have
unattributed suggestion that Edwards would have moved found nothing.

Glass News 34 July 2013 It is possible that the parish records might
produce something, assuming he was an Anglican. If he

12