The use of Cobalt in 18th Dynasty Blue Glass from Amarna: the results from an on-site analysis using portable XRF technology

Hodgkinson, Anna K.; Röhrs, Stefan; Müller, Klaus; Reiche, Ina

doi:10.1080/20548923.2019.1649083

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The use of cobalt in bulk glass material goes back to the oldest Egyptian Dynasties and is well established with the early work of the French chemist Alexandre Brongniart, the former director of the Sèvres Factory (from 1800 to 1847) and the founder of the first museum dedicated to pottery and glass-Musée national de céramique-at the very beginning of the 19th-Century [26,27]. Then, cobalt was identified in various blue coloured artefacts such as glazed pottery, glass objects, stained and lustre glass by many scholars [14,19,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Section: Historical Background and Famous Use Of Cobalt As Colouring Agentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cobalt and Associated Impurities in Blue (and Green) Glass, Glaze and Enamel: Relationships between Raw Materials, Processing, Composition, Phases and International Trade

2021

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Minerals able to colour in blue (and green in combination with yellow pigments) are limited in number and geologically. After presenting a short history of the use of cobalt as a colouring agent of glass, glaze and enamel in the Western/Mediterranean, Islamic and Asian worlds since Antiquity, we will present the different forms (dissolved ions, natural and synthetic crystalline phases/pigments) of cobalt and associated elements regarding primary (transition metals) and secondary geological deposits (transition metals and/or arsenic, bismuth, silver). Attempts to identify the origin of cobalt have been made by many authors considering the associated elements but without considering the important modifications due to different processing of the raw materials (extraction/purification/formulation). We review the information available in the ancient reports and present literature on the use of cobalt, its extraction and production from the ores, the different geological sources and their relationship with associated elements (transition metals, bismuth, arsenic, and silver) and with technological/aesthetic requirements. (Partial) substitution of cobalt with lapis lazuli is also addressed. The relative application of non-invasive mobile Raman and pXRF analytical instruments, to detect mineral phases and elements associated with/replacing cobalt is addressed, with emphasis on Mamluk, Ottoman, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese productions. The efficiency of Ni-Zn-As diagram proposed by Gratuze et al. as a classification tool is confirmed but additionally, CoO-Fe2O3−MnO and CoO-NiO-Cr2O3 diagrams are also found as very efficient tools in this research. The relationship between the compositional data obtained from the artefacts and historical questions on the origin and date of their production are discussed in order to obtain a global historical view. The need of a better knowledge of (ancient) deposits of cobalt ores and the evolution of cobalt ore processing with time and place is obvious.

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Section: Historical Background and Famous Use Of Cobalt As Colouring Agentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cobalt and Associated Impurities in Blue (and Green) Glass, Glaze and Enamel: Relationships between Raw Materials, Processing, Composition, Phases and International Trade

2021

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“…Nickel was not detected (the absence of peaks at 7.48 KeV is shown in Figure 5). This prevents the association of these glasses with the Egyptian source of cobalt [40]. The correlation of zinc with cobalt is positive for all the samples in the group except RE29.…”

Section: Group 1-spherical Blue Beadsmentioning

confidence: 94%

The Non-Invasive Characterization of Iron Age Glass Finds from the “Gaetano Chierici” Collection in Reggio Emilia (Italy)

et al. 2023

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This work reports the results of the analyses performed on a set of glass finds from the “Gaetano Chierici” collection in the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia. Forty-eight typologically heterogeneous glass finds were included in the list of the analyzed objects, dating from the fifth century BCE to the first century CE. The objects primarily consisted of glass beads; however, bangles, pinheads, and one vessel fragment were also included in the set. The items were analyzed using non-invasive spectroscopic methods that were implemented with portable equipment on the museum’s premises. Fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy was used to identify the coloring species in the glass matrix, while X-ray fluorescence spectrometry provided compositional information. Both techniques allowed for a discussion of the mechanisms of coloring and opacification, as well as the raw materials used for this purpose. The results provided a complex picture of the various colorants used to manipulate the appearance of the glass, which was a crucial aspect in the creation of the personal adornments represented by these glass items. The data revealed evidence of different sources of raw glass and colorants. Most of the samples were colored with cobalt, but iron and copper also influenced the color of many of them. Both white and yellow were utilized for the glass decorations, and these colors were achieved with the addition of either antimony-containing crystals or tin-containing ones. This finding suggests that the transition from antimonate to stannate started as early as the second century BCE. The “Gaetano Chierici” collection contains representative objects distributed throughout the investigated period. The results obtained here are a starting point for future studies of glass technology and provenance in the area.

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LIBS Analysis of Optical Surfaces and Thin Films

Gerhard¹,

Hermann

2023

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

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Elemental analyses of thin films and optical surfaces with complex compositions are challenging as the standard analytical techniques based on measurement calibration are difficult to apply. In this chapter, we show that calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy presents a powerful solution, enabling rapid quantitative analyses of multi-elemental thin films or tiny surface volumes of optical materials with high analytical performances. Examples are given for classically polished optical glass and a nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy film of 150 nm thickness. Thus, broadband spectra, recorded under experimental conditions that enable simple and accurate modeling of plasma emission, are processed via a calibration-free approach based on the calculation of the spectral radiance of a plasma in local thermodynamic equilibrium to deduce the elemental composition. The validation via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry illustrates that calibration-free LIBS is not only a promising tool, but already a reliable analytical technique.

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The use of Cobalt in 18th Dynasty Blue Glass from Amarna: the results from an on-site analysis using portable XRF technology

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Cobalt and Associated Impurities in Blue (and Green) Glass, Glaze and Enamel: Relationships between Raw Materials, Processing, Composition, Phases and International Trade

Cobalt and Associated Impurities in Blue (and Green) Glass, Glaze and Enamel: Relationships between Raw Materials, Processing, Composition, Phases and International Trade

The Non-Invasive Characterization of Iron Age Glass Finds from the “Gaetano Chierici” Collection in Reggio Emilia (Italy)

LIBS Analysis of Optical Surfaces and Thin Films

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