Discovery, Production and Use of Tin‐based Opacifiers in Glasses, Enamels and Glazes From the Late Iron Age Onwards

A Reassessment

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8048828
AutoresM S Tite (0000-0002-6835-4441, University of Oxford), M TITE, Trinitat Pradell (0000-0002-8720-5492), Anja Shortland (0000-0003-2460-9358, Cranfield University)
Año2007
Volumen50
Número1
Páginas67-84
Fecha de publicación2007-10-22
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeometry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-813X • E-ISSN: 1475-4754
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00339.x
OpenAlexW2062266871
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas132
Referencias citadas18

Tin‐based opacifiers (lead stannate yellow and tin oxide white) were first used in glass production for a short period in Europe from the second to the first centuries bc , and then again throughout the Roman and Byzantine Empires from the fourth century ad onwards. Tin oxide was also used in the production of Islamic opaque glazes from the ninth century ad , and subsequently in enamels applied to Islamic and Venetian glasses from the 12th century ad onwards. A selection of published analytical data for the tin‐opacified glasses, enamels and glazes is summarized, and the methods used in their production are reassessed. The phase transformations occurring when mixtures of lead oxide, tin oxide and silica are fired are investigated with high temperature X‐ray diffraction (XRD) using a synchrotron radiation source, and these results are used to explain the observed differences in the glass, enamel and glaze compositions. Possible reasons for the use of tin‐based opacifiers in the second to first centuries bc , and for the switch from antimony‐ to tin‐based opacifiers in the fourth century ad are suggested, and the possible contexts in which tin‐based opacifiers might have been discovered are considered. The introduction of tin‐opacified glazes by Islamic potters in the ninth century ad is discussed in terms of technological transfer or independent invention

Tin oxide · Building materials and conservation · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Mineralogy and Gemology Studies