The Communion of St Denis and the Feast of Corpus Christi in the 15th-Century Stained Glass of All Saints North Street in York

Abstract

A text scroll in a miraculous mass scene in the parish church of All Saints North Street in York contains a breviary text from the Communion of St Denis. English unfamiliarity with the Communion legend and the unusual iconography of this particular version have both contributed to earlier misidentifications of this scene as a St Gregory’s Mass. In fact, this window contains the only surviving example of the Communion of St Denis in English stained glass. The All Saints’ glass also contains evidence of a now-missing St Gregory’s Mass, arguably in the same window as the Communion scene. These mass scenes were occasionally used separately to signify the feast of Corpus Christi. Combining them in the same window would have created a potent set of images that showed different aspects of the Body of Christ. More complex cross-references between the texts and images in this glass suggest clerical involvement in a choice of iconographies that would have reflected the devotional interests of the probable lay donors, who were members of the York Corpus Christi Guild. Commissioning and funding the creation of this window may therefore have been a collaborative exercise.     

Investigations of Byzantine glass bracelets from Nufăru,Romania using external PIXE–PIGE methods

The chemical composition of twenty glass bracelet fragments found in Nuf?ru, a Byzantine site from 10th–13th centuries A.D., nowadays located on Romania's territory, has been determined using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Particle Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE) in external beam mode. Most of the Byzantine bracelet fragments were identified as “mixed natron-plant ash” soda-lime-silica glasses. The obtained chemical compositions indicated that the manufacturing of these finery items was performed using similar raw materials and techniques, in most of the cases involving colored glass recycling. PIXE–PIGE results highlighted the glass chromophores (cobalt, manganese, copper and iron ions) and provided hints about the mineral pigments used to paint the external surface of some bracelets.     

Where Do the Lead Ingots of the Saintes‐maries‐de‐la‐mer Wreck Come From? Archaeology Compared With Physics

The lead isotope compositions of many different samples from lead ingots of Roman age from two relicts (from Cabrera, and from Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer) of the Western Mediterranean have been measured. Other lead isotope analyses of ores, metals or lead ingots from mines of Sierra Morena and from Cartagena and Sardinia have been accomplished. All the lead isotope measurements have been performed at the Joint Research Centre of the European Union, Ispra (Va), Italy. The samples have been prepared in a class 100 clean room, using only ultrapure reagents and FEP materials. In view of the archaeological arguments, it was possible to believe that the Roman lead ingots of the Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer 1 wreck came from Spanish lodes, as well as those of the Cabrera 5 wreck. In fact, while the comparison between the first group of ingots (Cabrera 5) and the lead from Sierra Morena is consistent, the correspondence between the second group of ingots (Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer 1) and the Cevennes ores (southern France) gives rise to several problems concerning the archaeological and physical origins. These problems are discussed.     

战国时期铅钡硅酸盐制品相互关系的新思考

铅钡硅酸盐是中国古代费昂斯和玻璃制品的典型成分类型。本文首先明确了铅钡硅酸盐制品包含铅钡釉陶、铅钡釉砂、铅钡玻璃以及硅酸铜钡颜料四大类,并重点讨论前三者,强调不宜用“铅钡玻璃”指代铅钡硅酸盐制品。其后,文章整体梳理了战国时期铅钡硅酸盐制品的出土范围和存续时间。在此基础上,重新讨论了铅钡釉陶、铅钡釉砂、铅钡玻璃的关系问题,提出铅钡釉陶和铅钡釉砂都不是铅钡玻璃的先驱,三者在战国早期的出现更像是铅钡这种全新助熔剂在不同材质上的应用。     

清雍正朝的官造玻璃器

玻璃器是清代工艺美术品中的新宠,备受皇家珍爱。清代的玻璃制造始于康熙朝。雍正朝在此基础上继续投入大量的人力、物力制作为皇室享用、馈赠的玻璃器皿。本文通过对中国第一历史档案馆收藏的《造办处各作成做活计清档》中有关雍正朝玻璃制作档案的整理,并结合现存珍贵的玻璃实物,系统地对雍正朝玻璃厂制作的玻璃品种、工艺、用途及风格特点进行了论述。     

夏家店下层文化遗址出土铜器的矿料来源分析

为进一步了解夏家店下层文化铜器的物料信息,探讨其矿料来源,采用多接收电感耦合等离子体质谱仪(MC-ICP-MS)对4处夏家店下层文化遗址和1处高台山文化遗址出土的部分铜器进行了铅同位素比值测定,并将测定结果同辽西地区几处金属矿的铅同位素数据进行了对比。结果表明:这4处夏家店下层文化遗址出土铜器的原料可能是使用辽西当地的大井多金属矿的矿石冶炼而成,而大山前遗址出土铜器的铅料有可能来自辽宁桓仁的多金属矿,二道井子遗址所出红铜器的铜料则可能另有来源。所属高台山文化的湾柳遗址铜器的铅同位素数据具有高放射性成因铅特征,表明其与同期其他考古学文化存在某种联系。     

青海大通县出土汉代玻璃的研究

本文共对12件玻璃样品进行化学组成分析.其中,部分样品还进行了密度测定,X 射线衍射分析和显微镜观察.此外,还对一颗黄色玻璃珠的表面层进行 SEM-EDX 分析.结果表明,该玻璃珠表面有金箔涂层.根据分析结果,青海大通县出土玻璃的基础成分可归为三类,即铅钡玻璃(Na_2O-PbO-BaO-SiO_2系统玻璃),钠钙玻璃和钾硅玻璃(K_2O-SiO_2系统)。此外,还对玻璃的来源进行了探讨.     

High‐boron and High‐alumina Middle Byzantine (10th–12th Century ce) Glass Bracelets: A Western Anatolian Glass Industry

The trace element boron is present in most ancient glasses as an impurity, and high boron (≥ 300 ppm) marks raw material sources that are geologically specific and relatively uncommon. Recent analyses of Byzantine glass with high boron contents suggest that glass‐making was not limited to the traditional regions of the Levant and Egypt, and a production origin in or near western Anatolia is proposed. Glass bracelets from ?i?n al‐Tīnāt in southern Turkey give fresh evidence for the production and circulation of high‐boron glasses that closely correlates with object typology. The patterning of findspots suggests that high‐boron glass was closely connected to the Byzantine world.     

Tesserae Recycling in the Production of Medieval Blue Window Glass

The purpose of this paper is to develop a means of quantifying glass recycling and to discuss the ‘anachronistic’ chemical composition of medieval blue window glass. This method relies on a new numerical method using kernel density estimates and is based on a database of published glass chemical compositions. It seeks to reveal when, to what extent and why blue tesserae were recycled for the production of French and English blue glass. First, it is suggested that blue glass had an ‘anachronistic’ chemical composition only before the 13th century. Second, the ‘anachronistic’ chemical composition of 12th‐century blue glass comes from the recycling of both blue tesserae and non‐coloured glass. Finally, this recycling was motivated by the scarcity of cobalt sources until mines were found in the 13th century.     

Glass and glass production in the Oman peninsula in antiquity reconsidered – chemical and mineralogical investigation of sands

A batch of green‐ and amber‐coloured glass chunks and unguentaria dating from the first century CE was found in 2007 at Dibba al Hisn, a site on the Arabian Sea coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its elemental and isotopic composition revealed the glass to be of a previously unknown plant ash glass type, different from known contemporary Roman, Mesopotamian, and Indian glass. The Sr isotopic composition of the glass corresponds to locally available plants, pointing to the possible existence of a first‐century CE local glass production centre. To explore this possibility, sands from around the UAE were analysed to establish their suitability for glass making and correspondence with the Dibba finds. This paper presents the results of the elemental analysis of fourteen sands. The analysis, performed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP‐OES), revealed all sands to be rich in lime and alumina. X‐ray diffraction revealed the presence of calcite and other carbonate minerals, as well as antigorite and quartz. Comparison of the sand compositions to average first‐century CE non‐Roman glass found at Dibba showed them to be unsuitable as raw material for producing the glass of Dibba. The evidence thus identifies this glass batch as imported, contrary to what was suggested before. This paper also reviews the occurrence of thick‐walled unguentaria in the region.