Non-Invasive Analyses of Italian “Ostrogothic” Jewellery: The Desana Treasure

Abstract

The Desana treasure is a remarkable assemblage of items made of gold, silver, gemstones and glasses found in north-western Italy. Most scholars agree on the fact that the core of the treasure might have belonged to a single deposit resulted from a long period of selection, accumulation and use. The treasure testifies to the evolution of goldsmiths’ art in Ostrogothic Italy and represents an extraordinary material trace of the Italian elites of the 5th–6th centuries. The Desana treasure was investigated with non-invasive instrumental analytical techniques, namely optical microscopy, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry with optical fibres and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in order to record the chemical features of gemstones, coloured glasses and precious metals employed to produce the items. As for the gemstones, besides identifying typologies, data suggested India as the source for a sapphire pendant and for most of the garnets, whereas the emeralds may belong to different sources, among which Pakistan, India and Egypt. The investigation revealed the colouring agents and compositional features of the glasses, and the composition of the gold alloys. The results of the investigation highlight that the raw materials used by Late Antique Italian goldsmiths did not differ significantly from other neighbouring European and Mediterranean regions, although the garnets show some differences if compared with coeval jewels recorded north of the Alps. The dataset produced in this work complements the stylistic approach for the study of these amazing traces of the past and deepens our knowledge on the role of the Italian “Ostrogothic” jewellery in the frame of the coeval Mediterranean, Central European and Northern Pontic metalwork traditions.