Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:02:39.841Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

TECHNOLOGY OF EGYPTIAN CORE GLASS VESSELS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Blythe McCarthy
Affiliation:
Freer|Sackler, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Pamela Vandiver
Affiliation:
Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Alexander Nagel
Affiliation:
Freer|Sackler, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Laure Dussubieux
Affiliation:
Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL
Get access

Abstract

Our knowledge of glass production in ancient Egypt has been well augmented not only by the publication of recently excavated materials and glass workshops, but also by more recent materials analysis, and experiments of modern glass-makers attempting to reconstruct the production process of thin-walled core-formed glass vessels. The small but well preserved glass collection of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. was used to examine and study the technology and production of ancient Egyptian core-formed glass vessels. Previous study suggests that most of these vessels were produced in the 18th Dynasty in the 15th and 14th centuries BCE, while others date from the Hellenistic period and later. In an ongoing project we conducted computed radiography, x-ray fluorescence analysis and scanning electron microscopy on a selected group of vessels to understand further aspects of the ancient production process. This paper will provide an overview of our recent research.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Nicholson, P. and Henderson, J. “Glass,” in Nicholson, P. and Shaw, I., eds. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Cambridge University Press: 195224 (2000).Google Scholar
Giberson, D Jr.. “Core Vessel Technology: A new model,” in: Vandiver, P. Goodway, M., Mass, J., eds. Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology VI. Symposium held November 26-30, 2001 Boston, MA. Materials Research Society: Warrendale: 571–8 (2002).Google Scholar
Smirniou, M. and Rehren, Th. “Direct Evidence of Primary Glass Production in Late Bronze Age Amarna, Egypt,” Archaeometry 53.1: 5880 (2011).10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00521.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shortland, A.J. “Who were the Glassmakers? Status, theory and method in mid-second millennium glass production,” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26.3: 261–74 (2007).10.1111/j.1468-0092.2007.00284.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgkinson, A. K. “High Stature Industries in the Capital and Royal Cities of the New Kingdom. In Hudecz, A., Petrik, M., eds. Commerce and Economy in Ancient Egypt. Proceedings of the Third International Congress for Young Egyptologists 25-27 September 2009. Budapest: 7179 (2010).Google Scholar
Hodgkinson, A. K. “Mass-Production in New Kingdom Egypt: The Industries of Amarna and Piramesse,” in Boatright, D. et al. . (eds.), Current Research in Egyptology X: Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Symposium. Oxford (2011).Google Scholar
McClellan, M. Core-formed Glass from Dated Contexts. PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor) (1984).Google Scholar
Stern, E. and Schlick-Nolte, B.. Early Glass of the Ancient World 1600 BCE-AD 50 Ostfildern (1994).Google Scholar
Gunter, A. A Collector’s Journey. Charles Lang Freer and Egypt. Scala Publications (2002).10.5479/sil.713404.39088015777717CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ettinghausen, R. Ancient Glass in the Freer Gallery of Art. Exhibition Catalogue (1962).10.5479/sil.50917.39088016696403CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trakosopoulou, E. “Glass Grave Goods from Acanthus,” in Kordas, G., ed. Hyalos – Vitrum - Glass. History, Technology and Conservation of Glass and Vitreous Materials in the Hellenic World. Athens: 7990 (2002).Google Scholar
Shortland, A.J. and Schroeder, H.Analysis of First Millennium BC Glass Vessels and Beads from the Pichvnari Necropolis, Georgia,” Archaeometry 51: 947965 (2008).10.1111/j.1475-4754.2008.00443.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Alexander; McCarthy, Blythe, and Bowe, Stacey. “Crafting Glass Vessels: Current Research on the Ancient Egyptian Glass Collections in the Freer Gallery of Art. Proceedings from a workshop by the New Archaeological Research Network for Integrating Approaches to Ancient Material Studies (2012): 659–671.10.1117/12.974708CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehren, T. and Pusch, E. B. “Glas für den Pharao – Glasherstellung in der Spätbronzezeit des Nahen Ostens.,” in Wagner, G. ed., Fortschritte der Archäometrie, 215-35. Heidelberg (2007).Google Scholar