IBA of iridescent Art Nouveau glass – comparative studies

Simultaneous PIXE, PIGE, and RBS in air were employed to characterise the surface structure of iridescent Art Nouveau glass artefacts produced around 1900 by Tiffany, USA and Loetz, Austria. Using PIXE and PIGE, the chemical composition of the bulk glass and the overlays was determined in a non-destructive manner. Furthermore, the combination of PIXE and RBS enabled the layer structure of the analysed glasses (bulk, overlays, and iridescent layers) and the thicknesses of the thin layers in the near-surface domain to be determined. The measurement and evaluation procedure is demonstrated on blue iridescent glass fragments of Tiffany and Loetz by way of example. The initial results showing similarities but also differences in the layered glass structure of Tiffany and Loetz objects are presented.