A new light on a first example of lustred majolica in Italy

Ceramics from the Alcazar Palace in Seville (Spain) dated between the 11th and 15th centuries: Compositions, technological features and degradation processes

“…For the former, we have studied pastes (bodies) and glazes of 29 buried ceramic fragments dated from the 11th to the 15th century that were found during several archaeological excavations in the Real Alcazar of Seville. Two of the samples contain a lustre decoration that gives a metallic shine to the ceramics; this effect has been studied recently by several groups in ancient ceramics [13,20,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. The study was accomplished to deduce the possible origin and technological features of these ceramic materials starting from their chemical composition and establish the chronological and geographical evolution of the characteristics and the production techniques.…”

Composition, nanostructure, and optical properties of silver and silver-copper lusters

“…The thickness of each layer is given in units of areal densities, which can be converted into absolute thickness provided that the mean density of the layer is known. 17,18 The mean density of the luster layer was estimated by linear interpolation from the metal nanoparticle and glaze fractions taking 10.49 g/cm 3 for silver, 8.89 g/cm 3 for copper and, for the glaze, the density calculated from the RBS fittings after Fluegel. 26 X-ray diffraction measurements were performed on beamline BM16 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble.…”

“…5,6 Several studies have shown that the lusters consist of a thin surface layer (several hundred nanometers thick) of metal nanoparticles, silver and/or copper with sizes ranging between 2 and 50 nm, randomly distributed within a glassy matrix. [1][2][3][4] The production process [7][8][9] involves first ion exchange between the silver/copper ions (Ag þ /Cu 2þ or Cu þ ) from an initial mixture applied on the glass surface and the alkaline (Na þ and K þ ) ions from the glass, and then the nucleation and growth of metal nanoparticles through reduction of Ag þ to Ag 0 and Cu 2þ /Cu þ to Cu 0 .…”

A comparative study of Hispano-Moorish and Italian Renaissance lustred majolicas by using X-ray absorption spectroscopy

“…As well, the bismuth reported in Table 4 conrms its use only in the Italian production. [25][26][27][28][29][30] It is not possible to generalize its use as reducing agent, because it is not present at all in the HispanoMoorish production, and is found as cosalite in the Italian production. In this compound the Bi oxidation state is +3, thus it is not present in its oxidized form, which would be indicative of its reducing activity.…”

“…Mastro Giorgio Andreoli da Gubbio was the most important artist in this eld, whose works can be found in the most important museums of the world and are very well known in the antique trade market, as well. [22][23][24] His fame is due to the fact that optimising the lustre technique, he obtained outstanding results that were not possible to replicate during his time, and even at present. He was specialised mainly in two kinds of reects: an intense golden-yellow and a ruby-red colour.…”