Output details

Rediscovering the Cheapdside Hoard through digital visualisation.

This work results from the novel use of digital visualization for forensic analysis and interpretation of 16th and 17th century craftsmanship. New applications of the latest scanning and rapid prototyping technologies were specifically developed by the researcher to effectively reconstruct some excavated gold items found in the ‘Cheapside Hoard’. It is just over100 years since the hoard (predominantly Elizabethan and Jacobean jewellery) was discovered and this digital reconstruction project was commissioned in anticipation of the exhibition ‘London’s Lost Jewels: The Mystery of the Cheapside Hoard’ (Museum of London, 11th October 2013 – 27th April 2014).

For the museum the question was: how were these items made and how could these artefacts be engagingly brought to life for public exhibition? Because of its track record in digitally recreating replica museum exhibits the Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre of Birmingham City University was approached to assist.

Nine artefacts from the hoard have been investigated. Many of the objects are damaged or aspects of their design completely missing. Analysis, significantly informed by the craft expertise of the researcher, offered clues to how they were made and would have looked. Virtual reconstruction uncovered the manufacturing process of the artefacts where, in some cases, only a skeleton of precious metal was available. These have been digitally augmented to suggest how they would have looked 400 years ago, fresh from the workshop, complete with pearls, enamels and stones.

As the collection is predominantly jewellery it was designed to be worn and handled, not activities usually associated museum experiences. 3D metal printed objects produced from the digital CAD analysis and combined with traditional craftsmanship have resulted in enhanced replicas, revealing for the first time how these objects would have really looked – so now a visitor can interact directly with the object.