From England to Russia: Fluorite Vases from the Second Half of the 18th — Beginning of the 19th Centuries

Abstract

The article explores English stone-cutting products of the 18th century from Blue John fluorite. The objects of research are items from the Mining Museum collection. The authors have identified a wide range of analogues from various collections of Russian and European museums, auction houses. The article considers the history of the development of stone-cutting production from Blue John fluorite; possible stone-cutting workshops have been identified. In the study determined the technical and technological features of the manufacture of fluorite products in England at the end of the 18th century. The article deals with issues of attribution and reconstruction of museum items using 3D-visualization. The technical and technological features of fluorite processing and the technology for producing art objects was clarified thanks to the involvement of the laboratory base of the Center for Collective Use of the Mining University. A chemical study was carried out on samples of the substance used to stabilize the stone material of objects. On the basis a wide visual range the appearance of the destroyed vases was restored using 3D-technologies and the places of loss in objects from the Mining Museum were supplemented. The use of modern technological innovations made it possible to restore the appearance of monuments with unsatisfactory preservation and include objects of the 18th century. into scientific circulation. A significant corpus of archival documents has been revealed, giving an idea of the sources and methods of entry of items from English fluorite into the collection of the Mining Museum. The results obtained allowed us to change the idea of the formation of the collection of the Mining Museum; to supplement previously known information about the production of fluorite objects of arts and crafts in England.