Sheffield scientists crack the 1,600-year-old recipe behind the Lycurgus Cup
Sculpture re-creates odd optical effects of famed Lycurgus Cup
The Lycurgus Cup, a 4th-century Roman goblet of dichroic glass, appears green in reflected light and deep red when backlit, a trick traced in 2007 to gold and silver nanoparticles. University of Sheffield researchers Lisa Hollands and Caroline Jackson worked out a repeatable recipe, and glass artist Elliot Walker used it to create a contemporary sculpture that will debut at the Millennium Gallery before moving to the Turner Museum of Glass.
You can really get an idea of how the glass makers of the past would have adapted to this sort of glass; it's like shaking their hands.