"Des documents d'archives aux découvertes archéologiques"
Publication planned for the beginning of 2023 on the brand new digital magazine of the Louvre Museum..
The symposium organized by the National Museum of the Renaissance (Château d'Ecouen, Louvre Museum) by videoconference, took place on March 22 and 23, 2022 with around ten speakers. Archeoverre presented a paper on enamelled and gilded glass in Aquitaine in the 16th century.
This communication follows the work carried out on enamelled and gilded glasses in the northern part of France presented in 2016. Here, the study focused on Aquitaine where the mentions of "glazed glasses" or "golden glasses" in notarial minutes are the most numerous. As for the material in enamelled or gilded glass, it is not very present (white lines, white dots, writings) as in the south of France.
The communication plan made by Archeoverre
Notarial archives Our main historical sources come from notarial archives. The departmental archives of Bordeaux, Périgueux and Toulouse have been the subject of in-depth research. In Bordeaux, we are lucky to have notaries who carry out many commercial acts. But this research was sometimes difficult to carry out because of the state of the registers and the lack of care taken in writing. The deciphering of certain acts proved to be very complex and is still ongoing. Despite everything, 26 minutes refer to enamelled or gilded glass out of the 459 minutes concerning glassmaking activity in Aquitaine: 7 relate to enamelled glass, 19 to gilded glass. These notarial minutes provide a lot of information on the glassmakers manufacturing enamelled or gilded glasses by giving the name and location of these glassmakers as well as the name and location of the glass merchants. There is also information on the shapes produced as well as the decorations, the quantities manufactured and the prices of enamelled glasses and the quantities manufactured and the prices of gilded glasses. Enameled glasses
The enamelled glasses are produced by five glassmakers from four different workshops between 1556 and 1567. These workshops are in Gironde and in Lot-et-Garonne. No references have yet been discovered in the archives for the other departments. These are families of glassmakers already known such as the Coloms, the Roberts and the Greniers.
The decorations:
There are only two documents referring to animal decorations: one from 1572 in which Pierre Robert de Saint-Symphorien delivers Danish animal glasses. This is the same craftsman who bought "color to make glass" in 1564. But here, is it a good decoration in enamel or gold? Nothing certifies it. The other text concerns Bastien Besse du Tricolet who in 1579 delivered gilded coupettes as well as gilded glasses made of “lyons serfs and other animals”. It is assumed that it is glass on which animal motifs have been made. Dyes:
To make enamelled glasses you need dyes and we found documents referring to sales of "color to make glass". Jehan Juilhiot glassmaker in Périgord buys in 1558, 6 loads of color of the "Peyrouse"? But we still don't know what it means. Pierre Robert from the workshop of Saint-Symphorien in Gironde who in 1564 bought color to make glass. So these craftsmen did use dyes to tint their glasses, but did they make enamelled glasses?
The golden glasses We find two of these glassmakers Mathieu Legret and Pierre Robert in minutes where it is a question of sales of golden glasses. 6 other glassmakers are affected by sales of golden glasses. They are located in the same departments where enamelled glass is already produced and sometimes in the same villages or perhaps the same workshops: Saint-Symphorien,Donnac and Tricollet in Gironde and Mas d'Agenais, Antagnac and Castelmoron in the Lot et Garonne. The forms produced Different types of objects are mentioned in the minutes. For enamelled glasses, we find only thermes de coupes, or coupettes. For golden glasses the vocabulary is wider: not only are there coupettes but also "gobeaux", "guilhes" or simply white golden glasses. For the cuts, it is a somewhat vague term which does not necessarily represent the cuts that we know in our time but perhaps stem glasses with a wide cut. The "gobeaux" must be goblets, perhaps truncated stemmed glasses which belong to a form very widespread in France at this period. As for the "guilhes" we do not know what it could look like.
Confrontation with the ground archives: where have the enamelled glasses and the gilded glasses gone? -Few discoveries with enameled motifs: 11 enamelled glass fragments. No golden fragments were discovered. So many questions remain. - What about "written" glasses? Several minutes refer to the sale of this type of glasses. If we look at the prices, we realize that it is not very luxurious glass since they are exchanged between 1.6 deniers and 2.5 deniers, therefore much less than for enamelled and gilded glasses. -Terminology issues: what does "enamelled glass" mean in the 16th century? This raises the question of whether the designation “enamelled or gilded cups” of the 16th century covers the representation that we have of them today? -Glass recovery: sale of "broken glass" or "broken glass" - Poor quality email? - Current of exchanges towards the north? Conclusion
We see that the texts refer to a large production of gilded glasses and more limited for enamelled glasses. However, archaeological discoveries do not reflect these productions. And many questions remain. The still largely partial nature of these data invites us to explore the question in greater depth. We must continue research in the archivesonfrontation avec les archives du sol : où sont passés les verres émaillés et les verres dorés?
Digital publication on the Louvre Museum website The publication of the proceedings of the symposium is planned for the beginning of 2023. Archeoverre will publish its communication in its entirety, complete with maps, drawings and summary tables.
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