Studying and decoding the secrets hidden in the 18-20TH centuries Portuguese GLASS ARCANA

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to understand the production of glass in Portugal during the 18th and the 20th centuries with the aim of assessing the best procedures to be adopted in the conservation of this important legacy. This study starts with the reproduction of glass recipes existing in the Portuguese arcana, a kind of a secret notebook about glass production. With the reproduction of these recipes, it will be possible to initiate a systematic study of the glass production in Portugal, during the mentioned chronological period. This research is important not only for the history of glass in Portugal but also for the production of glass in Europe during the 18th to the 20th centuries. Through the studies already carried out about the arcana, it was possible to observe a great richness and complexity in these documents, with much information yet to be revealed about the industrial production of glass in Portugal. The ultimate goal is to establish hypotheses for the provenance of some glass objects present in Portuguese museums using an archaeometric approach to compare the reproduced glasses with the historical ones.