Renaissance Rome and the Italian Glass Connection: 16th-Century a.d. Hospital Dumps in the Forum of Caesar

Abstract

ABSTRACT Italy had a prominent role in the Renaissance European glass market, thanks to three centers of production located in Venice, Tuscany, and Liguria. The substantial amount of glass finds excavated in the 16th-century a.d. dumps of the Forum of Caesar is the object of this first interdisciplinary study of glass from Renaissance Rome. The typology reveals the predominance of medical containers, followed by tableware with parallels in Tuscan productions and a few Venetian-style vessels. The identification of medical vessels confirms the nature of the dump, which formed in connection with a hospital. The trace-element analysis (LA-ICP-MS) distinguishes four different base glasses, of which at least three have a Tuscan provenance. Only one find is Venetian in composition, while the rest of the fine vessels are Tuscan imitations of Venetian styles. The results obtained confirm the literary sources that document the commercial links between Tuscan glass producers and the Pontifical state.