FAIENCE: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE MICROSTRUCTURES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF GLAZING

Abstract

The microstructures of faience, produced in the laboratory by the direct application of the glazing mixture (both in the raw state and in the form of prefired and ground frit) and by the efflorescence and cementation glazing methods, have been studied in polished sections in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The microstructures observed were defined in terms of (1) thickness of the surface glaze layer, (2) thickness of the glaze‐core interaction layer, (3) nature of the boundary between the interaction layer and the core and (4) extent of any interstitial glass phase within the quartz core. These parameters provide the basis for distinguishing between faience made by the three principal methods of glazing used in antiquity. Hence the method used to glaze an ancient faience object can be inferred from its microstructure as observed in polished section in the SEM.