A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 Late Antique Gold Glass in the British Museum Daniel Thomas Howells Volume 1: The Thesis Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Art History University of Sussex July 2010 2 University of Sussex Daniel Thomas Howells Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) Late Antique Gold Glass in the British Museum Summary The British Museum holds one of the largest and most important collections of Late Antique gold glasses in the world, numbering over fifty pieces. However, the collection has never been fully examined or analysed and the standard reference works on the medium are well over 100 years old. This thesis uses the British Museum collection to offer a new and in-depth case study of gold glass which reconsiders the traditional but untested set of interpretations that have been in circulation since the mid-nineteenth century and before. Chapter One examines the history of gold glass scholarship from the late sixteenth century up until the present day. This serves to demonstrate where many of the frequently repeated assumptions regarding gold glass have their roots. Chapter Two gives a brief account of scholarship focusing on the British Museum collection. It then moves on to examine in detail the formation of the collection itself in the context of changing nineteenth-century attitudes to Late Antique art. Chapter Three for the first time defines the various sub-types of gold glass identifiable in the British Museum collection and incorporates a discussion of the first significant program of scientific analysis to be carried out on the medium. Chapter Four concentrates on the manufacture of gold glass and includes a detailed program of experimental reproduction. Chapters Five to Eight discuss in detail the range of iconography appearing on the gold glasses in the British Museum collection, reflective of the medium as a whole. Lastly, after examining the pattern of gold glass distribution and context, Chapter Nine draws together the preceding analysis to explore the possible workshop identity and chronology. The final Chapter concludes as to the function of gold glass in Late Antiquity. 3 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature.................................................................. 4 Preface and acknowledgements This thesis was completed between the years 2007 to 2010 as part of a fully-funded AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Studentship at the University of Sussex with the British Museum (Department of Prehistory and Europe). It is a pleasure to hereby acknowledge my enormous debt of gratitude to my supervisors Professor Liz James (University of Sussex) and Mr Chris Entwistle (British Museum) for their expert advice and guidance given unreservedly throughout the course of the project. I am also extremely grateful to Dr Andrew Meek for a number of very valuable discussions concerning the potential of scientific applications to ancient glass, and ultimately for carrying out the scientific analysis of a very large number of the British Museum gold glasses. Thanks are also due to Professor Julian Henderson for providing unpublished scientific analysis of gold glasses in the Ashmolean Museum collection. Experimental glass working was undertaken under the highly enthusiastic guidance of Mr Mark Taylor and Mr David Hill, who furthermore provided unreservedly their thoughts and advice, resultant of considerable specialist experience. The practical work itself was made possible through a series of generously awarded grants from the ‘Glass Association’, ‘University of Sussex Graduate Centre’ and the ‘Association for the History of Glass’. I would also to thank Professor Michael McGann for his help in translating some of the more challenging Latin inscriptions, Mr Stephen Crummy for producing the profile illustrations of the gold glass in the British Museum collection, and Dr Eileen Rubery for providing me with photographs of gold glasses from the Vatican Museum. Needless to say, however, any errors this thesis contains are entirely my own. I wish also to gratefully acknowledge the institutions, curators and other staff who gave me generous access to their collections and provided me with necessary photographs. In particular, I would like to thank not only the British Museum, but also the Ashmolean and Victoria and Albert museums. Furthermore, I would also like to thank the numerous individuals who have contacted me throughout the course of my work regarding examples of gold glass and related items entering the international art market. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the importance of resources accessed 5 at the British Library, the Warburg Institute, the Institute of Classical Studies, The Society of Antiquities of London and the National Art Library during the research for this thesis. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to those who have been most influential in my early studies of Roman archaeology and art history, namely Mr Christopher Forrest, Mr Alan French, Dr Keith Wilkinson, Prof. Tony King and lastly Dr Hella Eckardt, who was instrumental in my application for doctoral research at the British Museum. I would also like to thank my parents, Raymond and Janice, and my sister Elizabeth for their support and encouragement given to me throughout my seven years of study. This thesis is dedicated to my beautiful wife Azin for her patience and continual support, and without whom nothing would have been worthwhile. 6 Table of contents Preface and acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 4 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1: A history of gold glass scholarship ................................................................ 23 The later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries .......................................................... 23 Buonarruoti and the eighteenth century .................................................................... 25 The nineteenth century and the work of Garrucci and Vopel .................................... 28 The early twentieth century to Charles Rufus Morey (1959) ..................................... 34 Gold glass scholarship in the wake of Morey, 1960 to the present ............................ 37 Summary and point of departure ................................................................................ 40 Chapter 2: The gold glass collecting history of the British Museum .............................. 42 The British Museum collection and gold glass scholarship ......................................... 42 The collecting history of the British Museum gold glasses ......................................... 46 1854 Bunsen collection (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 1-10) ..................................... 46 1856 Hamilton collection (Appendix 1 catalogue no. 11) ....................................... 48 1859 Robinson collection (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 12-16) ................................ 50 1863 Matarozzi collection (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 17-33) ............................... 51 1868 an 1870 Slade collection (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 34-37) ......................... 53 1878 Meyrick collection (Appendix 1 catalogue no. 38) ......................................... 54 1881, 1886 and 1893 Franks collection (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 39-43) ........... 55 1890 Carlisle collection (Appendix 1 catalogue no. 44) .......................................... 57 1898 Tyszkiewicz collection (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 45-46) ............................. 57 7 Old Acquisitions (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 47-55) ............................................... 59 Fakes and forgeries, marketed and other reproductions (Appendix 1 catalogue nos. 56-65) ............................................................................................................... 60 The pattern of British Museum acquisitions ............................................................... 66 Chapter 3: Material considerations: morphology and compositional analysis .............. 70 Gold glass sub-types and object morphology ............................................................. 70 Cut and incised technique sandwich-glass vessel bases ......................................... 71 Cut and incised technique gilt-glass plaques ........................................................... 77 Cut and incised technique diminutive medallions and diminutive medallion studded vessels ........................................................................................................ 79 Brushed technique cobalt blue-backed sandwich-glass portrait medallions .......... 86 Gilt-glass trail inscription sandwich-glass vessel bases ........................................... 88 Scientific analysis