Origins and manufacture of the glass mosaic tesserae from the great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

Autor: Nadine Schibille, Patrice Lehuédé, Isabelle Biron, Léa Brunswic, Étienne Blondeau, Bernard Gratuze
Přispěvatelé: Université d'Orléans (UO), IRAMAT - Centre Ernest Babelon (IRAMAT-CEB), Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux (IRAMAT), Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF), Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Etudes du Comportement à Long Terme des matériaux de conditionnement (LCLT), Département de recherche sur les Procédés et Matériaux pour les Environnements complexes (DPME), CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire) (CEA-DES (ex-DEN)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire) (CEA-DES (ex-DEN)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Department of Islamic Arts, Musée du Louvre, 75058, Paris, France, European Project: 647315,H2020,ERC-2014-CoG,GlassRoutes(2015)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Archaeological Science
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2022, 147, pp.105675. ⟨10.1016/j.jas.2022.105675⟩
ISSN: 0305-4403
1095-9238
Popis: International audience; The Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus built between about 706 and 714/15 CE is the oldest surviving mosque that still preserves large parts of its original architecture and decoration. The origins of the mosaic tesserae have been the subject of debate for more than a thousand years. The earliest sources written two centuries after the construction of the edifice claim a Byzantine origin of both, the material as well as the craftsmen. Here we use the compositional analyses of nearly 1,000 glass tesserae to show that 65% of the samples (80% of the coloured tesserae) from the mosque have a consistent chemistry and, by inference, originate from a common geographical source. Comparison with chemical data of early Islamic glass groups conclusively identifies Egypt as the origin of these tesserae and demonstrates that they are coeval with the foundation of the mosque. Additionally, the compositional features of the gold leaf tesserae testify to the systematic recycling and reuse of older material. Our findings suggest that the manufacture and supply of glass tesserae for the Great Mosque was a direct commission from the highest echelons of government.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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