The Romans’ proficiency in the art of glass-making has produced some of the wonders of antiquity, but few of their creations better a 1,600-year-old masterpiece which sits in the British Museum.
Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – an astonishing feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glass-makers for centuries.
Now scientists from the University of Sheffield have replicated its remarkable optical behaviour, using an ancient recipe derived from a fragment of the Roman “dichroic” (two-coloured) original.
Dr Lisa Hollands, a technician at the university’s school of chemical, materials and biological engineering, said that replicating it has been “a labour of love” and “people have tried it before with limited success”. She added: “To me, it’s magic.”
