MicroEXAFS study into the oxidation states of copper coloured Hispano-Moresque lustre decorations

Abstract

Lustreware is a traditional decorative finish applied to ceramics, giving a copper-gold metallic finish. Following an Islamic tradition, it was a highly prized luxury finish that was exported throughouthe Mediterranean in medieval times. The technology required to produce the highly desired artifacts was the province of highly skilled artisans, that it was also non-trivial is evidenced by the slow development of rival production centres elsewhere and the large proportion of fragments from failed production runs found at the established centres. We have used the MicroEXAFS facility on Beamline 10.3.2 at the ALS to determine the spatial distributions of the Cu oxidation states both within areas of a constant colour and in different coloured specimens. Fluorescence microXAFS is an important technique and has enabled us to penetrate the predominately Al and Si surface layer (of the order of 100Å - 200 Å thick) to probe the metal glaze beneath.

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