Mineral pigment studies on ancient ceramics and glass artifacts from commercial settlements on Danube border between Muntenia and Dobruja

Abstract

We analyzed the compositions of mineral pigments for some ceramics and glass items excavated from the commercial settlements on Danube at the border between Ottoman Empire (Dobruja) and Romanian Principalities — Piua Petrii and Dinogetia–Garvan, using external milli-beam PIXE. The problem of mineral pigments used for Turkish ceramics (16th–17th centuries) is very important for the understanding of commercial routes of late medieval period. We determined the elemental compositions of green, red, brown and especially blue pigments. The most interesting case is the one of the Co-based blue pigments. The origin of the raw materials for these pigments in the 17th century could be the mining district of Schneeberg in Germany, characterized by the presence of Ni traces, our study revealing a possible trade route connection between Saxony and Ottoman Empire. As concerning glass samples, we analyzed fragments of Byzantine painted bracelets identifying manganese (mixed with iron) and copper for blue–black bulk-glass color, respectively for green bulk-glass color, a mixture of lead and tin for yellow painting and powders of gold and silver for some painted areas.