Exploring Colour Palette in Pottery from Western Anatolia and East Asia—Colour Schemes to Inspire
Aleksandr M. Kulkov
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis paper presents the results of a detailed materials analysis of late Byzantine to Ottoman period decorated pottery from on Mytilene and Chalcis in Greece. The classes of pottery are well known typologically. It follows on from two earlier papers using the same methodology on the same or very similar pottery, one on Mytilene and the other on Chalcis.
The analytical data obtained from several techniques is of good quality.
On the debit side the paper has some deficiencies, the main one being the almost total lack (with the exception of the Raman data) of reference to the large datasets that exist on all the pottery classes that have been obtained by other researchers. As a result, interpretation of the data is limited to the identification of some potentially differing recipes for individual colours but little more. Statements on where the pottery classes were produced is generally vague.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe paper is quite well written but should definitely be improved by a native English speaker.
The text could be tightened up. Captions to Figures and Tables could be simplified, for example Fig. 6 changed to:
Decoration in the sampled pottery from Mytilene in and Chalcis.
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
This paper presents the results of a detailed materials analysis of late Byzantine to Ottoman period decorated pottery from on Mytilene and Chalcis in Greece. The classes of pottery are well known typologically. It follows on from two earlier papers using the same methodology on the same or very similar pottery, one on Mytilene and the other on Chalcis.
The analytical data obtained from several techniques is of good quality.
On the debit side the paper has some deficiencies, the main one being the almost total lack (with the exception of the Raman data) of reference to the large datasets that exist on all the pottery classes that have been obtained by other researchers. As a result, interpretation of the data is limited to the identification of some potentially differing recipes for individual colours but little more. Please, see page 24.
‘According to other studies, the use of Fe for yellow colours, the use of Fe and Mn for brown colours, and the use of Cu for green or turquoise colours are common colour recipes [1-20]. However, the use of Fe, Cu, Sn for greenish red colours, the use of Co, Fe, Mn for bluish dark brown colours, and all of the purple recipes, such as Fe, Mn, Co, Cr; Fe, Mn, Co, Cu; and Fe, Cu, Co, are rather rare.
Statements on where the pottery classes were produced is generally vague. Please, see page 2.
‘Many archaeological evidence was existed regarding the provenance of the fragments from different regions based on stylistic considerations [20].’
Comments on the Quality of English Language
The paper is quite well written but should definitely be improved by a native English speaker. A native speaker made some corrections.
The text could be tightened up. Captions to Figures and Tables could be simplified, for example Fig. 6 changed to: Please, see page 11, I changed the caption.
‘Decoration of 33 sampled pottery sherds from Mytilene and Chalcis. The rest of the samples are undecorated.’
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe figures 7 and 8 are not very informative, since some of the pigment compositions are not visible. More information can be obtained from the tables. May be it will be better to combine pictures and table.
Author Response
The figures 7 and 8 are not very informative, since some of the pigment compositions are not visible. More information can be obtained from the tables. Maybe it will be better to combine pictures and table. Please, see page 19, I changed the graphs. I kept the most important chemical elements for the pigment recipes in order to be more visible than the previous graphs.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI would suggest expanding the research sample in the future. The amount of material is not adequate for statistical reasoning. The massification of samples subjected to archaeometric analysis has the potential to exclude certain accidental events that may occur with a limited amount of material. The text can be treated as a voice in the methodology of work on archaeological pottery material. However, the conclusions may be subject to some randomness.
Author Response
I would suggest expanding the research sample in the future. The amount of material is not adequate for statistical reasoning. The massification of samples subjected to archaeometric analysis has the potential to exclude certain accidental events that may occur with a limited amount of material. The text can be treated as a voice in the methodology of work on archaeological pottery material. However, the conclusions may be subject to some randomness. Please, see page 26.
Although clear evidence about the construction technology in terms of colour palette of the pottery from Western Anatolia and East Asia was discovered, it has to be considered that the interpretation is based on a comparably small data set. Further investigation, essentially with a greater number of samples from each region, will undoubtedly be necessary for the study of glazed ceramics from those areas in order to validate and to interpret the current data and preliminary conclusions based on them. Furthermore, additional research is required, accounting for a range of cultural, technical, geochemical, archaeological, and analytical aspects. It is still a work in progress to determine the provenance of certain glazed pottery findings and to assign other finds to various workshops or as-yet-unlocated manufacturing zones.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsManuscript Number: heritage-3069844
The manuscript “Exploring colour palette in pottery from Western Anatolia and 2 East Asia—Colour schemes to inspire” presents study of glazes of 40 ceramic shards found at the Castle of Mytilene and Chalcis in Greece using optical microscopy, pXRF spectroscopy, SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy.
Obtained results are valuable and should be published in Heritage after following minor corrections:
Abstract, line 18: add full name for EDS from SEM-EDS
Introduction, lines 43-49: repetition, rewrite these two sentences
Figure 2 should be deleted because figure 3 provides all necessary information
Figure 4 should be deleted as it does not provide information of importance to the manuscript
Authors should provide a map with clearly marked positions of two excavations sites from which pottery samples were collected.
Authors should also better explain motivation for this work – why two geographically distant locations, 40 ceramic samples where only 1-3 shards represent one class of glazed pottery- what were criteria for sample selection.
Table 1 – add which sample is from which location
Figure 6: what is presented as x-axis, number of samples? Should be written. There are 33 samples in Figure 6. Undecorated 7?
Authors should discuss results obtained by XRF and SEM-EDS in comparison to each other.
Results, line 240: Azurire oxide?
Results, lines 266-267: add EDS
Figure 10: add dimensions for all axes
Figure 12: should be Raman spectra
Authors should add in discussion comparison of their results with available literature.
Author Response
The manuscript “Exploring colour palette in pottery from Western Anatolia and 2 East Asia—Colour schemes to inspire” presents study of glazes of 40 ceramic shards found at the Castle of Mytilene and Chalcis in Greece using optical microscopy, pXRF spectroscopy, SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy.
Obtained results are valuable and should be published in Heritage after following minor corrections:
Abstract, line 18: add full name for EDS from SEM-EDS. Please, page 1, see line 18: Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy
Introduction, lines 43-49: repetition, rewrite these two sentences. I deleted the following sentence: ‘Despite the increased interest in ancient pottery techniques in recent years, detailed chemical examinations of glazed pottery have not received much attention’.
Figure 2 should be deleted because figure 3 provides all necessary information. I deleted it!
Figure 4 should be deleted as it does not provide information of importance to the manuscript. I deleted it!
Authors should provide a map with clearly marked positions of two excavations sites from which pottery samples were collected. I added a map. Please, see page 2.
Authors should also better explain motivation for this work – why two geographically distant locations, 40 ceramic samples where only 1-3 shards represent one class of glazed pottery- what were criteria for sample selection. Please, see page 2.
[Chalcis in Euboea, and Mytilene in Lesvos were two important Greek centres of ceramic production, and gained great recognition during the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods. Furthermore, the harbours of Chalcis, and Mytilene had widely extended trade and distribution of products that connected Greece with the East and West. Specifically, Chalcis had extensive trade with the Western Aegean and Mytilene had extensive trade with the North Aegean. The choice of samples from these two regions was not random as many local and imported wares were found in these two excavations during the Medieval to Post-Medieval periods. Many archaeological evidence was existed regarding the provenance of the fragments from different regions based on stylistic considerations [20]. However, this is not always enough and unambigious, and that is where elemental analysis in terms of exploring colour palette comes in. The selection of the number of fragments in each class depended on the available archaeological material.]
Table 1 – add which sample is from which location. I added the location of the samples. Please, see page 3.
Figure 6: what is presented as x-axis, number of samples? Should be written. There are 33 samples in Figure 6. Undecorated 7? Please, see page 11, figure 5 (previous figure 6).
Authors should discuss results obtained by XRF and SEM-EDS in comparison to each other.
The purpose of applying both analytical methods, pXRF and SEM-EDS, was not their mutual verification or comparison but the complementary study of the material.
Results, line 240: Azurire oxide? I corrected it ‘Azurire’. Please, see page 9.
Results, lines 266-267: add EDS. I added EDS in all cases that I had referred to SEM. (SEM-EDS)
Figure 10: add dimensions for all axes. Please, see page 23, figure 11 (previous figure 10). I added all the dimensions.
Figure 12: should be Raman spectra. I corrected it! Please, see page 21.
Authors should add in discussion comparison of their results with available literature.
Please, see page 24.
‘According to other studies, the use of Fe for yellow colours, the use of Fe and Mn for brown colours, and the use of Cu for green or turquoise colours are common colour recipes [1-20]. However, the use of Fe, Cu, Sn for greenish red colours, the use of Co, Fe, Mn for bluish dark brown colours, and all of the purple recipes, such as Fe, Mn, Co, Cr; Fe, Mn, Co, Cu; and Fe, Cu, Co, are rather rare.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors have revised the manuscript in light of some of the comments I made in my original review. However, several issues remain, and they fall into two main groups:
- Comparative studies and comparative chemical, SEM and other science-based data. The authors indeed refer to comparative studies which appear among references 1-20 in the bibliography, but, apart from the Raman data (references 38-43), they make little effort to use that comparative data. Surely what the authors have found in their examples of, for instance, Iznik, Kutahya , Lustre, Frit and Zeuxippus wares, should be compared with what earlier studies have shown especially as those studies often included decorated pottery produced at the named centres. Panagopoulou et al’s paper would be greatly enriched if they could do that – it would fit well in the Discussion. I accept that the task would involve new work and inclusion of new Tables (within a paper that is already very heavy with raw data presented in tabular form).
- Errors (such as magnetite oxide and hematite oxide in the text and Tables which should be magnetite and hematite. Line 181 All what?)
and poor expression. I offer suggestions below:
line 32 Rephrase the sentence beginning ‘This is because pottery … It does not read clearly at present.
Line 36 Although significant studies of Near and Far Eastern glaze compositions and colour recipes have been made (1-20), the full range of research attention is often lacking. During the …
40 … Iznik and Kutahya (Fig. 1). Because of …
53 Rephrase sentence beginning ‘The choice of samples….
55 Much archaeological evidence exists…. considerations (20). However this is not always sufficient and unambiguous, and that … the colour palettes comes in.
58 The sentence ‘The selection of the number of…. can be moved to line 47.
Fig. 1 Mark in Iznik and Kutahya on the map. Add to caption what the colour dots signify.
The Historical and Archaeological context section is too long and partly duplicates what appears in the authors’ previous papers.
Line 160 pXRF was used to check the presence of seriously degraded samples and thus to remove them from further analysis.
162 Finally, pXRF was very useful… delete this sentence.
164 Samples CH109 and MYT183 were too small for analysis in view of the 6mm spot size of the pXRF analysis…..
167 …FEI was used to provide additional information about the pigments’ chemical compositions.
168 … with a count time of 120s were…
175 Rephrase sentence beginning ‘Because of the fluorescence of glazes It is unclear at present
180 Delete sentence Scanning Electron….. pigments.
The first paragraph of 3. Results reads laboriously and seems to repeat what is already visually apparent in Fig. 2.
Line 202 What does different group collections mean?
203 .. which probably means that they came…
204 MYT230 presents a large difference…
210 delete (arsenic)
Simplify the writing, for example:
235 The red colour of Kutahya ware and Porcelain is Fe, however in Kutahya MYT183 it is both Fe…. and in Iznik ware MYT 214 it is Cu (0.4%) and Sn (2.9%).
239 regarding the brown colour, two recipes were observed in Kutahya and Porcelain wares.
Too much use of the word ‘noticed’.
261 Which workshops in China? Reference needed.
264 Cu, Fe; delete .
265 are present: light blue.
266 lazurite, azurite capitals not needed
276 In the first recipe, the colourants in the dark line are due to Fe, Co…. ; in the second
280-289 subscripts are not apparent in the formulae.
Consider putting the information in Section 3.3 Glazes into a Table.
Line 318 subscripts missing in Na2O and TiO2
Throughout the Tables and Figs simplify the caption to: … in the sampled pottery from Lesvos and Chalcis.
Tables 3 and 4 The average was calculated from how many spot analyses?
Table 8 Slips It is unclear why the compositions from Panagopoulou (spelt wrong) et al 2003 are included in this Table.
Fig. 7 delete – there is too much data to be usefully visualised.
Table 9 Results of Raman and SEM-EDS analysis of the main colourants.
Fig. 10 Annotation: alkali glazes is missing on the second line. Caption: Glazes in the sampled pottery …
Fig. 11 x axis Sample number mples??. Caption: Slip coatings in the sampled pottery…
Discussion
Line 39 How do you know that the alkali glaze sample was local to Lesvos?
46-47 A reference needed for the role of Ti and Zn oxides in glazes. …. below 1160superscripto C.
58-62 Many statements are made without supporting references, for instance to Iranian alkali frit and Ottoman lead alkali frit. What are the centres in Iran and Ottoman Turkey?
Acknowledgements
Line 110 for his permission to study the material.
112 ….and the previous Directors, A. Simosi and P. Kalamara.
In summary, there are substantive issues as well as a large number of small matters that collectively give me the strong sense that this paper needs major revision.
Comments on the Quality of English Languagemoderate revision needed
Author Response
I have answered everything in the word file! Thank you so much!
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
