{"id":897405,"date":"2026-10-28T10:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897405\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T10:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:16:17","slug":"sculpture-re-creates-odd-optical-effects-of-famed-lycurgus-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897405\/","title":{"rendered":"Sculpture re-creates odd optical effects of famed Lycurgus Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

An elusive recipe<\/p>\n

In 2020, Dutch researchers reproduced<\/a> the green\/red dichroic effect of the Lycurgus Cup in a 3D-printable nanocomposite material by embedding small amounts of silver and gold nanoparticles of the proper size and shapes. But nobody had yet devised a consistent, replicable recipe. University of Sheffield scientists Lisa Hollands and Caroline Jackson\u2014the latter an expert on Roman glass\u2014worked together to come up with one, experimenting with different furnace types, materials, oxygen levels, and at one point including sugar in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that making a glass of this type was likely to be a complex task, as it is not just a case of adding nanoparticles to glass,\u201d said Hollands<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve studied and worked with glass for over 25 years, so I used the knowledge and experience I\u2019ve gained, coupled with a modern scientific understanding of what I was trying to achieve\u2014although if the Romans could have seen me experimenting, they\u2019d probably laugh and ask: \u2018Why does she not know how to make this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"a
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

A contemporary glass sculpture paying homage to its intricate ancient twin using glass made in the Sheffield melting shop<\/p>\n

\n Ed Cartledge, Sort of Films\n <\/p>\n

\n A contemporary glass sculpture paying homage to its intricate ancient twin using glass made in the Sheffield melting shop<\/p>\n

Ed Cartledge, Sort of Films<\/p>\n


\n \"UK
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

UK glass artist Elliot Walker created the new piece using the Sheffield recipe<\/p>\n

\n Ed Cartledge, Sort of Films\n <\/p>\n

\n UK glass artist Elliot Walker created the new piece using the Sheffield recipe<\/p>\n

Ed Cartledge, Sort of Films<\/p>\n

\n A contemporary glass sculpture paying homage to its intricate ancient twin using glass made in the Sheffield melting shop<\/p>\n

Ed Cartledge, Sort of Films<\/p>\n

\n UK glass artist Elliot Walker created the new piece using the Sheffield recipe<\/p>\n

Ed Cartledge, Sort of Films<\/p>\n

The experimentation paid off when Hollands found a mix that produced glass with the desired optical effects, appearing green in reflected light, red when backlit. Her initial glass piece was exhibited at LightFest<\/a>, which is part of Molecular Photonic Breadboards, a UK project geared toward designing new materials that harness the power of light for sustainable technologies. Project leaders next decided to commission UK glass artist Elliott Walker\u2014the S2 winner of Netflix\u2019s Blown Away<\/a> competition\u2014to create a contemporary sculpture to pay homage to the original Lycurgus Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very rare thing to have the opportunity to work with glass developed from ancient mixtures and recipes, and it is always a very exciting one,\u201d said Walker<\/a>. \u201cYou can really get an idea of how the glass makers of the past would have adapted to this sort of glass; it\u2019s like shaking their hands. I wanted to keep the sculpture quite classical in form and to carry through the original story of Lycurgus shown on the cup, but we needed a blown element within this to really show the dichroic glass. The piece is a blend of the Lycurgus story and the Farnese Atlas sculpture, with the globe replaced by a cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The public will get its chance to see Walker\u2019s sculpture in person when it is unveiled at the Millennium Gallery next month during the University of Sheffield\u2019s Festival of the Mind. After that, it will have a permanent home on display at the university\u2019s Turner Museum of Glass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An elusive recipe In 2020, Dutch researchers reproduced the green\/red dichroic effect of the Lycurgus Cup in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-897405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}