Le verre aventurine (« avventurina ») : son histoire, les recettes, les analyses, sa fabrication

Abstract

Goldstone or aventurine glass, which belongs to the large family of copper coloured red glasses, is obtained through a complicated manufacturing processes where fate takes an important part. In the « Arte Vetraria » from A. Neri, this type of glass is not mentioned, while it is named in 1626 in the inventory of the possessions of a silversmith. As indicated by Luigi Zecchin, goldstone was probably discovered accidentally at the beginning of the 17th century in a Murano’s glass factory. Several papers have already been dedicated to this particular glass and to the actors of its production. The objective of this article is to confront ancient recipes and chemical analyses of this material, with the aim of proposing a technical interpretation of its making process and highlighting the difficulties of its production.