FREESTONE, Ian C. ; BIMSON, Mavis ; BUCKTON, D.

Annales du 11e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre (Bâle 1988)

AIHV, Amsterdam, 1990, p. 271-279

in situ

[401, 1300]

tesselle tessera

• Byzantine glass tesserae (Shikmona, Hosios Loukas, Venice) - chemical analyses:
– SiO2, AL2O3, FeO, MnO, MgO, CaO, Na2O, K2O, P2O5, Cl, PbO, SnO2, CuO;
– analyses of the colourants and opacifiers.

• Shikmona (5th century): soda-lime-silica glasses; low-potash, low-magnesia - “Roman” type (”low-magnesia” glass);
• Hosios Loukas (10th century): soda-lime-silica glasses; low-potash, high-magnesia - “Islamic” type (”high-magnesia” glass);
• Venice (San Marco) (11th-13th century): “mixed alkali” ; high-potash, high-magnesia, high-lime, high-phosphate - “north-western european” type (“forest” glass).

• The glass used for mosaic tesserae in the Byzantine era generally reflects the compositional trends seen in contemporary vessel glass.
• The tesserae types used in the mosaics were at least in part determined by the ability of the mosaicists to obtain certain colours.

analyses chimiques chemical analyses natron-cendre natron-ash

lieux de pratiques religieuses
places of religious practices   église
church

Grèce Greece		Hosios Loukas	consommation
Israël Israel		Shikmona	consommation
Italie Italy		Venise Venice	consommation