Glazed Ceramics

Tin-based opacification by tin oxide and lead-tin-oxide particles was used in glass production since the first millennium BC and in ceramic glazes since the eighth century AD. Opacification process is often characterised by significant amounts of tin oxide and lead oxide dispersed into glassy matrices or by identification of the opacifying particles by means of microstructural or (micro-)XRD analyses. The processes of opacification and manufacture are usually more difficult to establish from compositional and microstructural analyses because they leave little diagnostic traces. This review aims to integrate compositional data on archaeological glass and glazes and in particular the Pb/Sn values, with descriptions of the opacification processes in historical treatises, observations at traditional workshops, and the results of previous replication experiments to shed further light on technological issues underlying these methods of opacification and highlight new research perspectives.

This paper deals with the employment and diffusion of "Assyrian glazed hands" (also called "Ishtar hands") during the early 1st millennium B.C. in Northern Mesopotamia and Northern Syria. These objects were made in clay, almost always covered by a green glazed surface, in the shape of a hand, with fingers represented as in a cupped hand or fist and were supposed to protrude from the walls of ancient Assyrian palaces and temples. The paper aims at reassessing the documentation, exploring the archaeological record of glazed hands in their provenance contexts, and establishing connections with other visual and material records which can lead to a better understanding of these artefacts in the Assyrian heartland and in the Northern Levant.

Please download the article from the Metropolitan Museum of Art link (see below) or send an email at sebastiano.soldi@gmail.com to request an e-copy. Thanks!

The work focuses on majolica objects from the collection of the museum of ceramic in Ascoli Piceno (Italy). The scientific investigation was performed on fragments detached from seven maiolicas attributed to the Castelli production (Abruzzi region) and one majolica from the Ascoli Piceno production (Marche region). The Castelli artifacts (late sixteenth–early eighteenth century) belong to the decorated style known as ‘‘compendiario.’’ The piece from Ascoli Piceno recalls the decoration style of the other considered objects and is attributable to the ‘‘Paci’’ manufacture (first half of the nineteenth century). The selected objects were investigated by fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy, micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with electron-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. The ceramic bodies of all objects are calcareous, whereas the glazes are lead-alkali type opacified by tin dioxide. Blue and purplishred decorations were obtained by cobalt and manganese compounds dissolved in the glaze, respectively. Yellow and orange decorations were obtained by particles of lead antimonate and hematite. Finally, black decorations were obtained using compounds rich in manganese and iron. The study contributes to knowledge on the production of Castelli ceramics and presents first archaeometric data on the maiolica production from Ascoli Piceno. The scientific examination highlights continuity with the Renaissance production, and the joint contribution of the three analytical techniques suggests distinctive features among different productions, thus integrating and refining the information obtained by the art-historical study.

The presented pottery collection comes from the excavation of a medieval Islamic cemetery discovered at the Kom el-Dikka site in Alexandria, Egypt. The described set represents only a small fraction of an assemblage consisting of ceramics imported from the world known at the time. Hafsid pottery is easily distinguished thanks to a characteristic palette of colors: brown and blue patterns painted on a creamy-white background. The decoration repertoire can be divided into the following main groups of motifs: zoomorphic, floral, geometric and pseudo-epigraphic. The archaeological evidence is insufficient to support a periodization of this collection; the suggested dating follows from a stylistic analysis of the decoration compared with dated parallels from excavations on the citadel in Tunis and the bacini (bowls) preserved in Italian cathedrals.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of the employment of coloured glazed devices in architecture in the Iron Age Northern Levant, in light of current researches and archaeological evidence from old and recent excavations in Northern Syria and Southern Anatolia. Glazed ceramics from Tell Afis (Syria) and Zincirli (Turkey) are discussed in light of their provenance contexts, comparing such artefacts with a wide spectrum of visual sources both from the Northern Levant and North Mesopotamia. This analysis aims at understanding the possible function of these glazed ceramics, hypothesizing their possible employment in the architectural decorations of ancient buildings.
https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/view/78

The “Caff a” Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology named after A. Kh. Khalikov
of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan has conducted systematic studies of
the Golden Horde settlement of Majar since 2015. These works are carried out within the framework
of the implementation of a state program of the Republic of Tatarstan “Preservation of the National
Identity of the Tatar People (2014 – 2019)”. The article features a brief summary of the main results
obtained during the three-year study of Madzhar.

Археологическая экспедиция «Каффа» Института археологии им. А.Х. Халикова
Академии Наук Республики Татарстан с 2015 г. проводит систематические исследования
золотоордынского Маджарского городища. Эти работы выполняются в рамках реализации
мероприятий государственной программы Республики Татарстан «Сохранение национальной
идентичности татарского народа (2014 – 2019 годы)». В статье в краткой форме публикуются
основные результаты полученные в течении трёхлетнего периода исследования города Маджар

The paper features the materials of exploratory studies conducted in 2018 on the northeastern tip of the Kerch Peninsula in the area of Osoviny settlement. The activities on the determination of the boundaries of Osoviny-I settlement resulted in the discovery of cultural layers in pit 3 above the layers of the ancient period (1st century B.C. – 3rd century A.D.) associated with a previously unknown settlement of the 13th – 15th centuries. The remains of 6 slab graves previously attributed to the 8th – 10th centuries were revealed in the immediate vicinity of the 3rd pit. Layers of the pit dated the 13th – 15th centuries contained architectural remains of a semicircular wall oriented in the eastern direction constructed with the use of clay mortar. The discovery allowed to suggest that the Late Medieval cemetery chapel was located at the site of research, and propose a new earlier dating for the remains of the slab burial ground. The revealed cultural layers of the 13th – 15th centuries allowed to localize a previously unknown village of the Golden Horde period on the coast of the Kerch Peninsula, which was given a reference name of Osoviny – Vostochnoye in the course of field work. The medieval name of the newly discovered settlement – Cubatuba - was established on the basis of an analysis of the contents of a Genoa document dated 1393. In the period of its existence Kubatuba settlement was presumably included in the rural outskirts of the town of Vosporo, part of the Genoese territory in the Northern Black Sea region – the Genoese Gazaria.

ÖZET: Yer karosu ve porselen karo (granit) gibi kaplama malzemeleri kullanıldıkları ortamlarda (hastane, lokanta, alışveriş merkezi vb.) yüksek oranda aşınma kuvvetlerine maruz kalmaktadır. Böylesi alanlarda tercih edilen karoların sırları yeterince sert değilse, ürün kısa sürede aşınmakta ve kullanılamaz hale gelmektedir. Son yıllarda porselen karoya olan ilginin giderek artması bu karolara uygun özellikte sert sırların geliştirilmesini zorunlu kılmaktadır. ZrO 2-CaO-MgO-SiO 2 (ZrCMS) ve CaO-MgO-Al 2 O 3-SiO 2 (CMAS) sistemlerine ait cam-seramik malzemeler çok sert olmalarının yanı sıra, aşınma ve yüzey çizilmelerine karşı da yüksek dayanım sergilemektedirler. Bu çalışmayla, Eti Maden Kırka Bor İşletmesi konsantratör ve türev tesisi atıklarının ZrCMS ve CMAS cam-seramik sistemlerinde değerlendirilerek yüksek aşınma dayanımlı firitlerin üretilmesi, sonrasında geliştirilecek firit esaslı sırlarla son dönemde Avrupa'da olduğu gibi ülkemizde de çok popüler hale gelen porselen karo bünyelerin kaplanması amaçlanmıştır. Atıkların CaO, MgO, SiO 2 ve B 2 O 3 içermesi belirtilen cam seramik sır sistemlerinde değerlendirilmelerini mümkün kılmaktadır. Böylesi bir geri dönüşüm hem atıkların depolanma problemlerinin ve zararlı çevresel etkilerinin önüne geçilmesine hem de son ürün maliyetinin azaltılmasına yol açacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Boraks atığı, Porselen karo, Cam-seramik sırı, Hızlı pişirim, Değerlendirme ABSTRACT: Materials such as floor and porcelain (granite) tiles are subjected to high wearing forces in places like hospitals, restaurants, shopping centers, etc. If glazes are not hard enough, product will become unusable and worn out well before its expected service life. In recent years upsurge of interest in porcelain tile make it necessary to develop hard glazes with convenient properties. Glass-ceramic materials, which belong to ZrO 2-CaO-MgO-SiO 2 (ZrCMS) and CaO-MgO-Al 2 O 3-SiO 2 (CMAS) systems, are rather hard and indicate high resistant to wear and scratches. In this study, production of high wear resistant frits via evaluation of concentrator and derivative wastes of Eti Maden Kirka Boron Company in ZrCMS and CMAS glass-ceramic systems, and then coating porcelain tile bodies with glazes prepared by using these frits, which are so popular both in our country and Europe in recent years, are mainly aimed. Wastes are enabled to be used in declared glass-ceramic glaze systems due to their CaO, MgO, SiO2 and B2O3 content. Such a kind of recycling leads to both discouraging their harmful environmental effects and storage problems and diminishing final product's cost.

* Understanding Radiation* Industial Uses of The Radiation* What is Uranium* Uranium Based Ceramic Glazes and Glasses* Artistic Uses of  U/V Glow Ceramic Glazes* Artistic Uses of  U/V Glow Vaseline Glasses* Researches About  Uranium Glazes* Patented Invention about Uranium Glazes By Sencer Sari* Risks and Penaltys For Artists and Researchers* Other Glowing Earth Alkali Sources From The Nature

The archaeological surveys carried out during the recent rehabilitation of the Machado de Castro National Museum (Coimbra, Portugal) enabled the identification, at the southern side of the building, of a set of Modern Era materials resulting from discharges of the old Episcopal Palace. These well stratified layers, allowing an easy and reliable interpretation, represent four distinct phases of deposition (between the 15th and 16th centuries).
Amongst these dumping layers we highlight the last one that offered a well preserved and abundant variety of ceramic portraying the palace`s table set in use after the middle 16th century. In conjunction with the predominant occurrence of commonly used red pottery products there is a significant assortment of glazed ceramics.
We intend to describe the morphologic, typological and manufacture aspects of this important local production (Coimbra), sometimes confused with others southern Iberian Peninsula productions.

Distinctions between the concepts of ‘invention’ and ‘innovation’ are often confusing and ambiguous. Rarely, if ever, is invention the result of a lightening-strike ‘aha’ moment. Rather, invention tends to be the application of clever innovation from one aspect of life to another, shaped through personal observations and/or experiences. The ‘invention’ of metallurgy, for example, did not simply spring from the earth one morning, but rather evolved from observations of and experiences in other pyrotechnological processes. Past scholars have speculated on the invention of various early pyrotechnological activities, such as glass making and glaze production. What has not been fully explored, however, are the aspects of cross-craft interactions linking these and other pyrotechnologies. An example of this is the limited research exploring the technological connections between the advent and development of glass technologies and developments in metallurgical and other vitreous technologies. In this paper, these connections will be explored from pyrotechnological and craft technique perspectives. Ideas concerning connections between glass and non-ferrous metallurgy and glazing are discussed.