I might be doing 2+2=pineapple.. but I wonder if they contain small lengths of gold wire?
The kid in the bottom left seems to be drawing wire, above the vessels on the top left are spools of something hung up above the containers.
Surely we have a medieval metal working interested person on here somewhere?
The bird on the top, Post #167, is a pelican, "rending its breast" according to its Christianized mythos.
(13-12-2025, 10:51 PM)Bluetoes101 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I've exhausted all my ideas for functional things involving tools 
I've seen them in a number of metal workshop images, they are always "top shelf".. but I can't work it out.
I don't really know, but I see many possibilities...
Maybe the jars contain fluxes, like borax, that are used when welding or soldering metals other than gold. The molten flux dissolves the oxide and allows the metals to fuse together.
They could also contain fine polishing pastes, used to get mirror finish on metals. Jewelers need the same for grinding and polishing gemstones.
The jars could also contain acid substances used to "pickle" metal parts to remove rust from iron/steel or oxides from silver, copper, brass. (I often use citric acid for that purpose. Citric acid was discovered in the Baghdad Caliphate around 1000 CE, but I don't know when it became commonly available in Europe and commonly used for that.)
In blacksmith shops one also quenches parts in water and oil to harden them, and covers them with linseed oil as an anti-rust final coat. Goldsmiths may quench parts in water, rather than wait for them to cool in air, just to save time.
Goldsmiths and blacksmiths that can do casting may need relatively small amounts of certain materials to make molds, e.g. talc or a similar powder to prevent the halves of a mold from sticking together or to the cast piece.
All the best, --stolfi