Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Copper:
Cu, 74.74; Sn, 6.56; Pb, 18.51; Zn, 0.008; Fe, 0.01; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.1; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer
Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with areas of red. Fills and red and green paint are pitted in the fingers of the hand. A crack at the palm is reinforced at the interior with resin.
There are drip and brush marks at the interior from the application of wax to a mold. The break edge reveals that the thickness of the casting varies significantly, from 1.5 to 6 mm, due to uneven application of wax. Carbonized wood fragments up to 1.5 cm in length are also attached to the interior at several locations. It is not clear if these are related to burial or were temper added to the core material, which is otherwise lost. The fingers are hollow, probably all the way or most of the way to their tips. A core pinhole (4 x 4 mm) at the top of the hand has a lip at the interior showing that either a warmed pin was pushed through the wax or that the wax was soft. A patch (7 x 7 mm) covers the hole at the exterior. A threaded hole at the palm of the hand is modern and may be related to a modern mount. There is no indication of what the hand may have once held. The regular shapes modeled around the knuckles appear to represent some form of garment. Corrosion makes it difficult to be sure, but it appears that the modeling of the fingernails was done in the wax model. Small flecks of a thin layer of gilding are located at many areas and are imbedded in the ancient corrosion products.
Henry Lie (submitted 2001)
