In archaeological excavations in the Netherlands, which study contexts dating from the first half of the 17th century, fragments of imported compendiario majolica have been found between the many sherds of Dutch tin-glazed ceramics. This import material is problematic in terms of determining the provenance. The compendiario majolica is also known as Bianco from Faenza, named after the city where the style was originally invented; for this reason the majority of the compendiario finds recovered has regularly been attributed to Faenza production in Dutch archaeological publications in the past. The actual idea is that the situation is more complex and that they were not necessarily coming all from Faenza, even if the Italian provenance seems to be probable. The morphology of some of the compendiario objects, in fact, showed similarities with objects known from Ligurian berretino and Ligurian white. By means of archaeometric analyses on sherds found in Amsterdam, the presented cooperative research aims to shed more light upon the origins of the production of this particular group of compendiario majolica. Twenty-five samples have been selected for the analyses. Observations on thin sections through optical microscopy (OM) have been carried out in order to characterise the microstructure and the morphology of the pastes and the glazes, while a scanning electron microscopy combined with an energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) has been used for the determination of their chemical compositions. Some samples have also been analysed by means of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) in order to individuate the crystalline phases present in the paste of the ceramic samples. Investigations evidenced the presence of two groups of pastes, distinguishable for the microstructure and the chemical composition. One group is characterised by a very fine groundmass with coarse inclusions and by a high calcium content (around 23% CaO). The other group shows a very fine and isotropic groundmass with the absence of coarse inclusions and it is distinguished for a higher magnesium content (around 5% vs 2% MgO). The mineralogical newly formed phases, represented by pyroxene and/or gehlenite, underline that the temperature reached during firing is around 950-1000° C. Coatings consist of a opaque glaze layer present on both recto and verso surfaces and their average thickness is ~500 ?m. Their chemical composition is characterized by high amounts of lead and silicon oxide, with a relevant tin content. It is possible to distinguish two groups, on the base of the tin content: in some samples the SnO2 reaches the 12%, while the majority of them are characterised by lower amounts (6-9% SnO2). This difference is also well visible on thin section. The results point out the presence of at least two provenances of the studied majolica finds. Next step will be the comparison with data of previously conducted researches on ceramic fragments from various Italian production centers, because it could help in the individuation of their production sites.
Looking for the provenance of some samples of compendiario maiolica found in archaeological excavation carried out in the centre of Amsterdam
B FABBRI;S GUALTIERI;
2011
Abstract
In archaeological excavations in the Netherlands, which study contexts dating from the first half of the 17th century, fragments of imported compendiario majolica have been found between the many sherds of Dutch tin-glazed ceramics. This import material is problematic in terms of determining the provenance. The compendiario majolica is also known as Bianco from Faenza, named after the city where the style was originally invented; for this reason the majority of the compendiario finds recovered has regularly been attributed to Faenza production in Dutch archaeological publications in the past. The actual idea is that the situation is more complex and that they were not necessarily coming all from Faenza, even if the Italian provenance seems to be probable. The morphology of some of the compendiario objects, in fact, showed similarities with objects known from Ligurian berretino and Ligurian white. By means of archaeometric analyses on sherds found in Amsterdam, the presented cooperative research aims to shed more light upon the origins of the production of this particular group of compendiario majolica. Twenty-five samples have been selected for the analyses. Observations on thin sections through optical microscopy (OM) have been carried out in order to characterise the microstructure and the morphology of the pastes and the glazes, while a scanning electron microscopy combined with an energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) has been used for the determination of their chemical compositions. Some samples have also been analysed by means of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) in order to individuate the crystalline phases present in the paste of the ceramic samples. Investigations evidenced the presence of two groups of pastes, distinguishable for the microstructure and the chemical composition. One group is characterised by a very fine groundmass with coarse inclusions and by a high calcium content (around 23% CaO). The other group shows a very fine and isotropic groundmass with the absence of coarse inclusions and it is distinguished for a higher magnesium content (around 5% vs 2% MgO). The mineralogical newly formed phases, represented by pyroxene and/or gehlenite, underline that the temperature reached during firing is around 950-1000° C. Coatings consist of a opaque glaze layer present on both recto and verso surfaces and their average thickness is ~500 ?m. Their chemical composition is characterized by high amounts of lead and silicon oxide, with a relevant tin content. It is possible to distinguish two groups, on the base of the tin content: in some samples the SnO2 reaches the 12%, while the majority of them are characterised by lower amounts (6-9% SnO2). This difference is also well visible on thin section. The results point out the presence of at least two provenances of the studied majolica finds. Next step will be the comparison with data of previously conducted researches on ceramic fragments from various Italian production centers, because it could help in the individuation of their production sites.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
