The glass walls of Samarra (Iraq): Ninth-century Abbasid glass production and imports

Abstract

Capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 836 and 892 CE, the palace-city of Samarra offers a precise window into early Islamic art and architecture. Excavations conducted more than 100 years ago are seen as the beginnings of scientific Islamic archaeology, and have yielded an exceptional array of finds including a wealth of glass artefacts. The chemical composition of glass reflects the nature of the raw materials and their geological provenance and can therefore reveal past technologies and economic and cultural interactions. Through high-resolution analysis of a comprehensive glass assemblage from Samarra we have new evidence that points to the existence of an advanced Abbasid glass industry, as well as the import of specific glass objects for the thriving new capital city. Quantitative analytical data of 58 elements by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) show a striking correlation between object types and glass compositions. The compositional profiles of two related plant ash groups of architectural glass point to a local production, destined for the decoration of the famed glass walls of Abbasid palaces. The selective use of objects, materials and colours to create reflective and luminous glass walls are indicative of the great cultural and economic value of glass during the Abbasid period. Our findings thus confirm the veracity of written sources that stipulate the production of glass in the vicinity of Samarra, as well as the import of selected artefacts such as Byzantine mosaic tesserae.

Changes in the Signature of Cobalt Colorants in Late Antique and Early Islamic Glass Production

“…A few ninth-century Egyptian glass weights made using natron as the alkali source, as well as one tenth-century plant ash glass weight exhibit intermediate values, probably again due to recycling practices. That the chemical characteristics of the cobalt colorant in Islamic glass weights define a new type of cobalt ore is confirmed by analytical data of ninth-to tenth-century Islamic glass beads from Ribe (n = 17, Denmark) and Komani (n = 12, Albania), seventh-and thirteenth-centuries glass beads from Lezha (n = 6, Albania) [23], and cobalt blue bottles from ninth-century Samarra (Iraq) [35]. In all the Islamic cobalt blue plant ash glasses from Ribe, Komani (except one) and Samarra, cobalt is positively correlated with zinc and indium (Figure 7a).…”

Tin-based opacifiers in archaeological glass and ceramic glazes: a review and new perspectives

“…Examples of such glasses were found in opus sectile panels in Greece (Brill and Whitehouse 1988;Brill 1999, sections VH, VI, VJ), at Shikmona in Israel (fifth c., Freestone et al 1990), at Kilise Tepe (fifth to sixth c., Neri et al 2017), Hagios Polyeuktos (sixth c., Schibille and McKenzie 2014), and Sagalasses in Turkey (sixth c., Schibille et al 2012), at Petra in Jordan (fifth to seventh c., Marii 2013), and in Cyprus (fifth to seventh c., Bonnerot et al 2016). During the early Islamic period, the use of lead-tin-oxide glass continued as attested in a set of glass tesserae found at Khirbet al-Mafjar in Jericho, Palestine (eighth c., Fiorentino et al 2017Fiorentino et al , 2018, and Qusayr' Amra, Jordan (eighth c., Verità et al 2017), as well as eastwards in Samarra (ninth c., Schibille et al 2018b;M. Wypyski 2015, pers.…”

“…comm. ) and Ctesiphon, Iraq (9th c., Schibille et al 2018b), Amorium, Turkey (ninth c., Wypyski 2005), and Nishapur, Iran (eighth to tenth c., Pilosi et al 2012;Wypyski 2015). Tin oxide seems to have been more popular as an opacifier for blue and red glasses during the Late Antique in Israel (Freestone et al 1990), Cyprus (Bonnerot et al 2016) and Turkey McKenzie 2014, Wypyski 2005).…”

“…Tin oxide seems to have been more popular as an opacifier for blue and red glasses during the Late Antique in Israel (Freestone et al 1990), Cyprus (Bonnerot et al 2016) and Turkey McKenzie 2014, Wypyski 2005). It was only later in the Islamic period during the ninth to tenth centuries in Iraq and Iran that tin oxide was more commonly used as white colourant in glass (Schibille et al 2018b, M. Wypyski 2015.…”

New light on plant ash glass found in Africa: Evidence for Indian Ocean Silk Road trade using major, minor, trace element and lead isotope analysis of glass from the 15th—16th century AD from Malindi and Mambrui, Kenya

“…Recent analytical research on glass from Termez in southern Uzbekistan (Henderson unpublished), Kuva and Akhsiket (a primary production glass centre) in eastern Uzbekistan [29,44] and Ghazni in Afghanistan [36] may provide some clues about the provenance of v-Na-Al glass. The Uzbek and Afghan glasses are characterised by elevated levels of Al 2 O 3 , high MgO as well as relatively low ratios of Cr/La and 1000Zr/Ti [29,35,36]. They are different from Middle Eastern plant ash glass which generally has higher Cr/La and lower levels of Al 2 O 3 [10].…”