16th-17th century Filigrana Glass found in Portugal: some prelImInary observatIons

The present contribution addresses the study of more than 150 glass fragments decorated with filigrana technique coming from four archaeological excavations in Portugal: Santa Clara-a-Velha Monastery in Coimbra, Santana Convent and Largo do Chafariz de Dentro in Lisbon, and São João de Tarouca Monastery in Lamego. The fragments show a wide use of different type of canes – canna a fili, canna a rete, other canes with external decoration and canna mista – according to the terminology used by Kitty Laméris. The presence of filigrana a reticello and objects made in one and two layers are also evident. It is possible to determine a large variation in (1) quality of materials, (2) colours, with filigrana made with clear and transparent glass, or with greyish or even greenish glass, (3) quality of the technique, with the occurrence of some pieces where the termination of the canes was not removed, and with variations in the space between the applied canes in the same fragment. This paper aims at providing some preliminary observations regarding these fragments, which are being studied as part of a larger project.