Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 76.51; Sn, 7.25; Pb, 15.43; Zn, 0.101; Fe, 0.55; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.06; Sb, 0.06; 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 black with areas of red and raised areas of green. The hand is broken and repaired at the wrist. This could be an ancient repair. Lead was poured in to make this repair, filling the hand and spanning the break. Some modern plastic fill was added at the crack. Whether ancient or modern, fine file marks at the wrist and elsewhere appear to be associated with cleaning the surface after the repair. The corrosion products appear authentic. However, oxides are very thin on this object, including what appears to be red cuprite, often a good indicator of long-term burial. Thus antiquity is possible but not certain.
The uneven wall thickness, which varies from 2 to 7 mm at the break at the wrist, indicates the bronze was is probably a lost-wax cast done by the indirect technique. The crudely detailed fingernails appear to have been modeled in the wax directly and no cold working is visible. There are small casting flaws at many locations. Modern plastic fill material has been used to fill some of these flaws.
Henry Lie (submitted 2001)
