Studi sulla circolazione del mosaico in area nord-adriatica

Valentina Cantone

• Publisher: Viella Libreria Editrice
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9788833135588
• Topic: Arte
• Subtopic: Storia dell'arte antica

I mosaici paleocristiani che si possono ammirare nel nord Italia nascondono trame complesse, celate sotto il loro diaframma luminoso e seducente. Lo studio delle botteghe, dei motivi iconografici e ornamentali, l'approvvigionamento, la circolazione e la lavorazione dei materiali, le vie percorse per portare a compimento i cantieri possono apparire come una matassa aggrovigliata, fatta di questioni che richiedono di essere analizzate in ottica specialistica, ma che necessitano anche di una integrazione dialogica fra i saperi.Questo volume raccoglie i risultati di un laboratorio in cui docenti e studenti hanno interrogato una serie di casi di studio, indagati attraverso le metodologie della storia dell'arte, dell'archeologia e dell'archeometria, cercando di offrire diverse soluzioni e nuove prospettive di ricerca.

Zuzana Frantová

Autonomous Glass Tesserae Production in Classe? Ravenna between the Sea and the Continent105

From the 5th to the 7th centuries, Classe became one of the most important trading ports in the Mediterranean (Fig. 1).106 The port secured supplies for Ravenna, the new imperial residence since 402, as well as the distribution of goods throughout Northern Italy.107 Although the port had been one of the most important in the Western Roman Empire since its establishment by Emperor Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD), evidence for construction of the port at Classe, which served for maritime and river commerce and encouraged local craft production, is concurrent right with the arrival of the court of the Emperor Honorius in the early 5th century.108 In addition to large quantities of goods necessary for everyday life and those necessary to ensure the functioning of the port,109 luxury goods were imported together with material for their local production. These luxury goods were intended for demanding clients from the ranks of the aristocracy and the imperial court.110 Thus the city surely was home to skilled jewelers, stonemason, ivory carvers and glassblowers.

The archaeological discovery of a glass furnace at Classe in the Seventies of the 20th century111 allowed the scholars to hypothesize that Classe produced glass for Ravenna and other markets (Fig. 2). Based on our current knowledge of workshop practice in Late Antiquity, it is very likely that glass production in Classe included several different branches of the industry.112 The present text focuses on the possibility that also glass tesserae were produced locally for decorating the buildings constructed in the new sedes imperii.113 This hypothesis has been recently discussed in connection with interdisciplinary and archaeometrical research into several Ravennate churches.114 I will not focus on glass objects intended for everyday use, such as glasses, cups, bowls and lamps, the production of which had increased considerably around the middle of the 1st century BC with the invention of glass blowing.115 But research in this area has made considerable progress in recent years, and if we consider some of these results, we can gain a better understanding of the production of glass mosaic tesserae, for which direct evidence is scarcer.116

For a complex understanding of possible local production of glass tesserae in Ravenna, it will therefore be necessary to work with the results of major archaeological discoveries and archaeometrical analyses not only from the field of mosaic production, but also from the field of glass as an applied art. Based on the results of the studies of Late Antique mosaic manufacturing in general and on art historical considerations, we will try to present the additional arguments for the existence of a local workshop producing glass tesserae for the Ravennate churches. The background enriched by such an approach will help us to better understand the artistic milieu of Ravenna and to imagine one of the processes of how the important Late Antique cities were practically created.

Glass Production in Late Antiquity

Up to the Middle Ages, glass was obtained by melting together a siliceous constituent (sand), a fluxing agent (natural soda or sodium-rich plant ashes), and lime, together with colorants, decolorants, or an opacifying substance. Roman glass vessels from the period between the 1st to the 6th centuries are similar in their basic composition, apparently regardless of the geographical location of the workshop or the exact moment of their production.117 This fact can be explained by how Late Antique glassmaking was organized.

The production of glass in Late Antiquity was divided into two separate phases. The primary phase was the production of raw glass; the secondary was the production of the objects themselves, i.e. vessels, cakes for tesserae, or jewelry. The production of raw glass took place only in a few areas that were close to the sources of suitable raw materials.118 Large slabs of glass in natural shades from green and yellow to pale blue were produced there. Subsequently, the slabs were broken into small pieces. In this form, raw glass was shipped to various locations across the whole Roman Empire. There it would be crushed again, melted, dyed and transformed by blowing or casting into final objects in secondary workshops.119 This model has recently come to be preferred by a majority of scholars because it is supported by written sources as well as archaeological and laboratory research. This hypot...

Table of contents

• Risvolto
• Occhiello
• Frontespizio
• Colophon
• Indice
• Per una pizza arancione. Approcci integrati nello studio del mosaico paleocristiano
• I mosaici vitrei paleocristiani del Veneto: il punto di vista dell’archeometria
• Produrre tessere in vetro a Classe: una prospettiva archeologica
• Autonomous Glass Tesserae Production in Classe? Ravenna between the Sea and the Continent
• Forms and Ideas in the Fifth-Century Mediterranean: Bishop Neon and His Mosaics in Ravenna
• Milano capitale, tra Roma e Ravenna: circolazione di botteghe, di materiali e di idee