Of Goblins and Gods

The historical and technological significance of cobalt and its compounds

Cobalt: named after goblins, allotted to gods.

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.

Preface

Part 1 — Cobalt through the ages

Chapter 1
Cobalt: Of goblins and gods
Andrew J. Shortland

Chapter 2
Cobalt through the ages, illustrated through a selection of objects demonstrating its use
Andrew J. Shortland

Part 2 — Sources and signatures

Chapter 3
Norwegian cobalt production and uses
Lasse Hermansen Bjørnland

Chapter 4
Provenancing smalt: The potential of geological analysis
Patrick Degryse and Andrew J. Shortland

Chapter 5
Variations in the chemical signatures of cobalt colourants used in glass from the 17th to the early 20th centuries
Bernard Gratuze

Chapter 6
The cobalt mine at Kashan, Iran: A brief overview of its history, from the pre- Mongol period to the early 20th century
Moujan Matin

Chapter 7
Cobalt mining at Alderley Edge, Cheshire, UK
Nigel Dibben

Part 3 — Applications

Chapter 8
Cobalt in Late Bronze Age glassmaking: Insights from archaeometric analyses and case studies
Victoria Kemp and Andrew J. Shortland

Chapter 9
Early Islamic cobalt-blue glass: Colourant and matrix
Nadine Schibille

Chapter 10
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

Chapter 11
The use of cobalt on Chinese ceramics from the 7th to 20th centuries CE
Yun Zhang and A. Mark Pollard

Chapter 12
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

Andrew J. Shortland

Andrew J. Shortland is Professor of Archaeological Science at Cranfield University, working on the identification and interpretation of material culture from the ancient and historical worlds.

Victoria Kemp

Victoria Kemp is a postdoctoral research assistant at the Ashmolean Museum, applying surface imaging techniques and compositional analysis to study painting materials and techniques.

Lasse Hermansen Bjørnland

Lasse Hermansen Bjørnland is historian and museum pedagogist, working at the Norwegian Blue Colour Works.

Patrick Degryse

Patrick Degryse is Professor of Archaeometry at KU Leuven, studying the history and use of mineral resources in ancient technology.

Dennis Braekmans

Michelle Derrick

Nigel Dibben

Katherine Eremin

Bernard Gratuze

Jinah Kim

Penley Knipe

Christian Lechelt

Moujan Matin

Erin Mysak

Richard Newman

Mark Pollard

Mark Pollard is Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, and PI on the ERC Advanced Grant ‘FLAME’.

Georgina Rayner

Nadine Schibille

Nadine Schibille is a senior researcher in art history and archaeometry in the Institut de recherche sur les archéomatériaux (IRAMAT-CEB) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Jens Storre

Yun Zhang

Andrew J. Shortland

Victoria Kemp

Lasse Hermansen Bjørnland

Patrick Degryse