Explorative Studies in 16th century silver refining recipes

• Published in: Journal of archaeological science, reports reports, 2021-04, Vol.36, p.102775, Article 102775
• Main Authors: van Bennekom, Joosje, van Bork, Ellen, Téreygeol, Florian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adam van Vianen; Archaeology and Prehistory; Chemical Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lazarus Ercker; Material chemistry; Probierbuchlein; Refining; Silver; Silversmith; Workshop receipts; XRF
• ISSN: 2352-409X; 2352-4103
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102775

•XRF measurements on Dutch silver show a lower level of bismuth for objects made by Adam van Vianen.•Adam van Vianen made objects that need high malleability of the silver alloy.•Reconstructions of 16th century silver refining techniques were carried out.•The most elaborate recipe (“Test”) gives the most purified silver.•The composition of the silver of this ‘Test’ recipe is similar to that of the silver used by Adam van Vianen. When examining the alloy of several works of Adam Van Vianen, one of the founders of the Dutch Kwabstijl, with X-ray fluorescence (XRF), a more elevated silver and lower bismuth percentage than commonly found in works of his contemporaries was detected in the silver alloy. We hypothesize that Van Vianen used an alloy with a high percentage of silver as it is more malleable, allowing him to achieve extreme deformation of the silver without the formation of cracks. Recipes that would have been widely used at the time and which describe silver production and refinement in the silversmith workshop were chosen to serve as a basis for making reconstructions in silver. The Probierbüchlein (The Little Book on Assaying) by Calbus of Freiberg was selected as the first source with recipes that deal with this topic. As a second reference, the well-known ‘Beschreibung allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt und Berckwercksarten’ (Description of Leading Ore Processing and Mining Methods) by Lazarus Ercker was selected. Several reconstructions of the recipes on assaying were made and are discussed here.