1 Understanding 17 th /18 th century Dutch Tin/glaze Through the Interpretation and Reconstruction of Historical Recipes Kate van Lookeren Campagne University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, k.e.vanLookerenCampegne@uva.nl Luc Megens Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, L.Megens@cultureelerfgoed.nl Maarten van Bommel University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, M.R.vanBommel@uva.nl SUMMARY: The interest in technical art-historical sources has grown in recent years as has the awareness that they are invaluable in improving our knowledge and understanding of both the composition and degradation of art objects. This research has centred on the interpretation of Dutch 17 th and 18 th century tin-glaze recipes as described in contemporary, written sources. Research into the raw materials described in the recipes combined with EDX analysis of a reference group of historical tiles enabled the reconstruction of a historical glaze, the beginning of an ongoing project that is exposing new information on the nature of the fluxes used in the recipes, in particular the sodium components. The findings expand our understanding of the glazes used on Dutch tin-glaze tiles and objects. KEY-WORDS: Tin glaze; Historic glaze recipes; Glaze reconstruction INTRODUCTION Researchers of historical Dutch tin-glazes are extremely fortunate in having both hand-written and published indigenous historical sources which document 17 th and 18 th century tin-glaze recipes as well as providing information on the production of both tin-glaze household wares and tiles. The findings presented in this paper are part of a broader PhD research into the production of Dutch tin-glaze tiles in the 17 th and 18 th century. While there is evidence in de archival documents that specific clay mixes and glazes were used in tile production, one has to consider tin-glaze recipes in a broader context. Although a number of production specialised in tile production, many Dutch factories produced both tiles and household wares. An initial step in the assessment and interpretation of indigenous Dutch tin-glaze recipes is to compare them with other European written sources describing tin-glaze recipes, some of which claim to document recipes from Delft. HISTORICAL TIN/GLAZE RECIPES The earliest records of tin/glaze recipes Although the treatise written by Abu’l-Qasim in 1301 1 is considered to be the earliest text relating to tin-glaze technique, the glazes discussed are compositionally closer to alkali frit glazes. Of greater relevance is the three-part manuscript ‘The Book of the Potter’s Art’ written by the Italian Cipriano Piccolpasso (1524-1579) in circa 1558. 2 Piccolpasso was known to have had contact with Flemish potters and there is an evident similarity between some of his recipes and techniques he documents and those found in the Dutch sources a hundred years later. Interestingly, Vannoccio Biringuccio’s published a few years earlier in 1554, 3 describes tin- glaze recipes very similar to those found in Piccolpasso. This either suggests that Piccolpasso had taken recipes from Biringuccio’s publication, or that similar recipes were used throughout Italy at the time. A simplified overview of these recipes can be found in table I.