Of Goblins and Gods : 3,500 years of Cobalt and its Pigments

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cobalt.

Material culture.

Technology--History--To 1500.

Technology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

[S.l.] : LEUVEN UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2026.

Summary:

"Cobalt and its compounds have had a long and important part to play in history. Metallic cobalt is a modern innovation, vital in the green energy transition. However, cobalt compounds have been used for 3,500 years to create deep-blue pigments, featuring in many important works of art and religious artefacts, associated with heaven, eternity and the divine. Cobalt ores are rare, and their exploitation is a dangerous pursuit. Their co-occurrence with arsenic has led to severe health consequences for workers, which were blamed on supernatural spirits and goblins, 'kobolds', from which the name cobalt is derived. Of Goblins and Gods discusses the state-of-the-art of the extraction and use of cobalt ores through history, alongside the technology involved in making and applying cobalt pigments in many man-made materials across all regions and periods, from the Death Mask of Tutankhamun and pre-Islamic tiles to Indian manuscripts and the windows of Canterbury Cathedral"--Publisher information.

Contents:

Cobalt: of goblins and gods / Andrew J. Shortland

Cobalt through the ages, illustrated through a selection of objects demonstrating its use / Andrew J. Shortland

Norwegian cobalt production and uses / Lasse Hermansen Bjørnland

Provenancing smalt: the potential of geological analysis / Patrick Degryse and Andrew J. Shortland

Variations in the chemical signatures of cobalt colourants used in glass from the 17th to the early 20th centuries / Bernard Gratuze ;

The cobalt mine at Kashan, Iran: a brief overview of its history, from the Pre-Mongol period to the early 20th century / Moujan Matin

Cobalt mining at Alderley Edge, Cheshire, UK / Nigel Dibben

Applications.

Cobalt in late Bronze Age glassmaking: insights from archaeometric analyses and case studies / Victoria Kemp and Andrew J. Shortland

Early Islamic cobalt-blue glass: colourant and matrix / Nadine Schibille

Smalt and other blues in painting from South Asia and Iran / Katherine Eremin, Penley Knipe, Georgina Rayner, Jinah Kim, Richard Newman, Erin Mysak and Michelle Derrick

The use of cobalt on Chinese ceramics from the 7th to 20th centuries CE / Yun Zhang and A. Mark Pollard

Light and dark blue: a non-destructive analysis of blue enamel and underglaze compositions in Fürstenberg porcelains / Dennis Braekmans, Jens Storre, Christian Lechelt, Rosa Seepma and Andrew J. Shortland.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

94-6166-709-4

94-6166-708-6

OCLC:

1572418779