Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014
Technical Observations: The patina is mottled cupritic red, brown, and various shades of green and black. One side is much greener than the rest, and there are slightly lighter green spots throughout.
The body of the vessel and the handle are shaped from two separate pieces of bronze sheet metal. They are held together with three copper alloy rivets, two of which are located on the top of the handle and one of which is located on the shoulder of the vessel. The inner surface of the vessel’s neck preserves visible marks of the tools used to raise the piece. The sides of the spout were formed by pinching the rim toward the center of the opening. The edge of the rim is ever so slightly flared. The handle is embellished with a variety of punched patterns: a small pointed punch was used on much of the background of the handle, while a short flat punch served to create the lines on the top, and a hollow circular punch (c. 2.5 mm in diameter) was used on the top and vertical sections. Some of the scratches on the longer incised decorative lines expose shiny metal and are probably from post-excavation cleaning. The decorative patterns were created on the flat sheet of metal that formed the handle before it was bent into shape and attached to the vessel. The scalloped edges of the top of the handle were shaped by cutting. The flared edges of the vertical portion of the handle either represent the original thickness of the sheet or were formed by hammering the edges in toward the center.
The foot of the vessel was also formed by hammering but is very uneven, perhaps as a result of damage and repair. Indeed, several areas in the body of the vessel above the foot are dented. One of these has a crack (c. 5 cm long) that was partially hammered out, causing some of the metal near the bottom of the damage overlaps. Another dented area (c. 4.5 x 6.5 cm) appears to have been repaired with a fill and painted over with a fake patina that mimics the surrounding genuine cupritic red and green patina on the bronze. This repair does not show up well under ultraviolet light. There are additional cracks on the shoulder and neck. None of these is particularly visible from the inside of the vessel, which is coated with a variety of accretions.
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)
