A Veszprém Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 24. (Veszprém, 2006)

Horváth Eszter: A langobard ékkő- és üvegberakás technológiai sajátosságainak vizsgálata a várpalotai és jutasi fibulákon

THE TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LANGOBARD PRECIOUS STONE AND GLASS INLAY ON THE BROOCHES OF VÁRPALOTA AND JUTAS The jewellery and apparel elements that are inlaid with precious stone form a special group of 6

th century goldsmith's work. This essay presents the brooches that belong to the finds of the cemeteries unearthed at Várpalota und Jutas from a specific point of view. The twelve objects were found in six graves. Each of them is a variation of the Sshaped and disc brooch or the bow brooch. Their analyses by a light microscope focused on the technical details of the forming and mounting of precious stone and glass inlay. The interpretation provided new results concerning the tools and standards of the goldsmith's craft of the era. The examinations had three important aims: 1. to identify the material of the inlays and to compare it with the already known results 2. to trace the technological tricks used in the forming of the precious stone and glass inlays on the basis of the observed tool marks 3. to describe the process and the tools of setting the precious stone and glass through analysing the structure of the settings One of the main results is that the microscopic analyses allowed the accurate separation of the glass and the garnet. On the basis of this, it can be shown that the occurrence of the glass is much less than it was supposed earlier. Only one inlay of the S-shaped brooches and one of the disc brooches of the 4/b and 5

th grave in Várpalota were made of glass. In all other cases the surface was decorated with precious stone - with garnet. On the basis of their inclusions, most of the garnets could be defined as almandine. This rate is similar to the one observed in the finds of the whole Carpathian Basin and other West German finds as well. The list of the inclusions of the inlays can be found in the catalogue. The identification of the geological sites of the precious stones is relevant to have more precise knowledge of the commercial processes and the relations between workshops. As we are familiar with the commercial systems of the Merovingian Age, in the question of raw material purchase, we have to take into consideration the results of the composition analyses of the inlays of the Frank object. The sites from which the garnets of 5

th and 6

th century objects were obtained were identified as India and Sri Lanka. With the microscopic examination of the discussed inlays of the Langobard brooches, not only the identification of their material became possible, but also the detailed analysis of their shaping. The latter one deserves special attention, because the archaeological evidences of shaping of precious stone, the various tools are rarely found. Thus, we can have ideas about the techniques and the process of the production just observing the objects themselves. In the case of garnets of the analysed brooches we could define three main phases of the work: the forming of the shape of the stones, their polishing and their cutting to size. On the basis of the excellent surface, the regular formation of the facets, and the standard size we may suppose that a central cutting workshop was forming the garnets of Western European as well as Hungarian finds. But we can also notice the work of the local masters in the more irregular forms, which supports the theory that the Langobard goldsmiths were not only specialized on moulding the metal itself. The technical features of the inlay-ornamented brooches and especially the mounting leads towards different directions as well. The method of casting dominates in the finds, which can be considered as the work of local goldsmiths. This method combines the skills of the goldsmiths themselves and the preserved local traditions. In the case of the disc brooches with cloisonné work, both the structure and the composition show foreign technical practice. The comparing analysis both of the compound of the paste that fills up the cells of the settings and the foil patterns makes possible to distinguish the products of one workshop, but still further researches are needed. There has never been such a detailed mineralogical and technical analysis on the Langobard objects of Pannónia. Some future chemical experiments, which have already been used in Western Europe for a long time, can provide new information on the technology of inlay-decoration. 60