Swiss stained-glass panels: an analytical study

Machado, Andreia; Wolf, Sophie; Alves, Luis C.; Katona-Serneels, Ildiko; Serneels, Vincent; Trümpler, Stefan; Vilarigues, Márcia

doi:10.1017/S1431927617000629

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Journal article

Swiss stained-glass panels: an analytical study

Machado, Andreia R&D Unit, Vidro e da Cerâmica Para as Artes (VICARTE), Faculdade de Ci?ncias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal - Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ci?ncias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal
Wolf, Sophie Vitrocentre Romont, Switzerland
Alves, Luis C. C2TN, IST/CTN, University of Lisbon, Sacavém, Portugal
Katona-Serneels, Ildiko Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Serneels, Vincent Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Trümpler, Stefan Vitrocentre Romont, Switzerland
Vilarigues, Márcia R&D Unit, Vidro e da Cerâmica Para as Artes (VICARTE), Faculdade de Ci?ncias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal - Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ci?ncias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

23.06.2017

Published in:

Microscopy and Microanalysis. - 2017, vol. 23, no. 4, p. 878–890

English The history and iconography of Swiss stained glass dating between the 16th and 18th centuries are well studied. However, the chemical and morphological characteristics of the glass and glass paints, particularly the nature of the raw materials, the provenance of the glass, and the technology used to produce it are less well understood. In this paper, we studied two sets of samples from stained-glass panels attributed to Switzerland, which date from the 16th to 17th centuries: the first set comes from Pena National Palace collection, the second from Vitrocentre Romont. The aims were to identify the materials used in the production of the glass, to find out more about their production origin and to characterize the glass paints. Both glass and the glass paints were analysed by particle-induced X-ray emission; the paints were additionally analysed by scanning electron microscopy–electron-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results show that the glass from both sets was probably produced in the same region and that wood ash was used as a fluxing agent. Different recipes have been used to make the blue enamels. However, the cobalt ore used as a coloring agent in all of the blue enamels came from the mining district in Schneeberg, Germany.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Géosciences

Language