A Review of Cross-craft Interactions Between the Development of Glass Production and the Pyrotechnologies of Metallurgy and other Vitreous Materials

Abstract

Distinctions between the concepts of ‘invention’ and ‘innovation’ are often confusing and ambiguous. Rarely, if ever, is invention the result of a lightening-strike ‘aha’ moment. Rather, invention tends to be the application of clever innovation from one aspect of life to another, shaped through personal observations and/or experiences. The ‘invention’ of metallurgy, for example, did not simply spring from the earth one morning, but rather evolved from observations of and experiences in other pyrotechnological processes. Past scholars have speculated on the invention of various early pyrotechnological activities, such as glass making and glaze production. What has not been fully explored, however, are the aspects of cross-craft interactions linking these and other pyrotechnologies. An example of this is the limited research exploring the technological connections between the advent and development of glass technologies and developments in metallurgical and other vitreous technologies. In this paper, these connections will be explored from pyrotechnological and craft technique perspectives. Ideas concerning connections between glass and non-ferrous metallurgy and glazing are discussed.