Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 82.1; Sn, 4.95; Pb, 11.12; Zn, 0.007; Fe, 1.3; Ni, 0.06; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.09; As, 0.31; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.022; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer
Technical Observations: The patina on the main handle features very lumpy, thick upper layers of corrosion. Accretions obscure the surface detail in the layer below. Layers of green and red corrosion are interspersed with brown deposits, perhaps soil, in this uneven layer. Exposed surface at the bottom of the handle shows well-preserved worked designs in the dark surface below. On the underside of the handle, a loss of the lumpy crust reveals an area of blue corrosion, probably azurite. At the curve of the handle, where deformation of the metal has occurred, the thick crust has spawled off to reveal an uneven brownish-red and green surface. The top of the handle shows a more even patina except on the sides of the discs near the top.
The handle has cracks on one side of the arm on the upper cast portion. The handle is slightly deformed at the bend. The surface is covered with corrosion mixed with burial dirt, except at the deformed bend in the handle where it spawled off and in many areas where it was removed mechanically to expose the surface.
The bronze handle consists of two sections: the cast upper portion and the cast and worked metal handle that protrudes through the underside of the cast upper portion. The cast upper portion has a thin opening where it would rest on the rim of the vessel. Part of the rim remains attached by a rivet in the center of the handle where it was used to secure the handle to the vessel. Another small fragment of the vessel remains in the rivet at the lower end of the handle. The vessel fragments are thin sheet metal. The main handle portion was fabricated by casting the metal to form four rounded vertical ridges.
Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)
