Ceramic Glazed Painted Eggs Production Technology Based on Kyiv Archaeological Materials

Abstract

Glazed painted eggs were one of the most vivid manifestations of Ancient Rus’ ceramic art. Nevertheless, today there are still unsolved problems in study of this category of archaeological material. It concerns technological aspects. These articles were made of ordinary pottery loam in a band way. They were formed hollow and contained a small ceramic ball in the inner part. After the molding they were fired, then covered with transparent glaze, which served as a background. In most cases green and fulvous glaze was used. Then, by using a special tubular instrument the painting was made with glaze of another colour, usually yellow and green, and the item was heated up again in the kiln in order to smooth the surface. Paintings were not multifarious. There were three main types of designs: ordinary stripes, which surrounded the item several times; unsystematic stripes that were put lengthwise and athwart; and also braces, which were the most common ornament. The question of the Ancient Rus’ glaze, which covered the glazed painted eggs, was raised in the 1960-ies by T. Makarova. However, today, on the basis of our collection and in the context of significant changes in the field of science, we have succeeded in clarifying and extending the known facts. The Nanomedtech Electron Microscopy Laboratory with the help of a Tescan Mira 3 LMU scanning microscope and the Gatan Pecs 682 precision etching and coating system was kindly performed with spectral analysis. Spectral analysis confirmed that Ancient Rus’ glaze had a lead-silica composition with a high content of tin. Brown colour was obtained by iron oxide, yellow by lead, green by copper. A general glaze formula was developed, which should consist essentially of Pb and Si oxide. On the example of two samples that have the same yellow colour, the difference in the quantitative composition of the components and their percentage can be seen that, by-turn, confirms the view of the relative dimensions of component measurement. The analysis of a small amount of material allowed describing the technology of painted eggs manufacturing.