Composition of 15–17th Century Archaeological Glass Vessels Excavated in Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract

In the beginning of the 16th century, Antwerp (Belgium) was one of the largest ports of Europe and an important centre for the manufacture and import of glassware, especially for Venetian and fagon-de-Venise glass vessels. As a result, archaeological excavations in the historical centre of Antwerp have yielded a number of important glass finds from the 15th until the 17th century. Within this extensive collection, several typological categories of glass vessels can be distinguished. The major and trace composition of a series of 96 representative glass objects was determined by means of EPXMA (electron probe X-ray micro analysis) and μ-SRXRF (synchroton radiation induced X-ray fluorescence analysis). Four major compositional types could be distinguished. The correlation between object composition, colour and type is discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the composition of the façon-de-Venise or Venetian glass objects found in Antwerp and on the comparison of this composition to that of glass of the same type found in other locations in Europe.