To Sarah Richards and to the List
1) About 1510, Peter Weidenheimer, a curious mining man and chemist from the
town of Schneeberg in Saxony, discovered that the fusion of cobalt dioxide
with quartz gave a deep blue material which he then called "smalte", from
which comes the German word "Emaille", the Spanish and Portuguese words
"esmalte," and also "enamel".. When grinding this smalte down and mixing it
with water, it retained its blue color. The people in Murano found out
about it and then improved the process.
2) But, already in 1240, bluish glass was used in cathedrals in France. In
Italy, one Cenino Cennini and Antonio da Pisa knew by about 1395 that a
blue coloring agent came from Germany.
3) And even abd-Allah al Qasani, the author of a book on precious stones
written in 1301 in Tabriz, Iran, already knew that this blue coloring agent
was imported from "Frankistan" via Venice.
Regards
Helmut Waszkis
Helmut Waszkis
441 Wickford Point Road
Wickford RI 02852
401.294.2548
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