Olga S. Roumiantseva

The Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow (o.roumiantseva@mail.ru)

Key words: Eastern Europe, Eastern European champlevé enamels, Roman time, technology, glass working, forest zone, Dnieper valley.

Among the ornaments of the type of Eastern European champlevé enamels included in the Bryansk hoard of the late 2nd‑3rd century AD a series of ornaments with polychrome enamel inserts is of particular interest. A study of technology of their manufacture carried out taking into account the data on modern techniques of artistic enameling enabled us to identify a wide range of technological methods, e.g. decoration by drawn applied elements; decoration by liquid powdered enamel; filling of compartments without metal partitions simultaneously with ground down glass pieces and enamels of various colours, etc. Different technologies used to produce various elements of ornaments show that craftsmen paid particular attention to the difference of melting temperatures of enamels of different colours as well as to colour formation in red and orange opaque glass. The use of complex enameling techniques in combination with those of hot glass-working implies that the ornaments of the Bryansk hoard were ordered by the local population to provincial Roman artisans.