Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 64.97; Sn, 6.56; Pb, 27.82; Zn, 0.08; Fe, 0.13; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.08; Sb, 0.09; As, 0.19; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.018; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer
Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with areas of brown. The lid is lost. A loss on the proper right of the top of the head may have been a second loop. The base, although ancient, appears to have belonged originally to another object and is soldered in place at a hole on the bottom of the object. Holes, probably from corrosion, are also present on the back and proper right side. Modern paint covers about one-tenth of the surface, presumably to improve the appearance of the patina.
The balsamarium is an indirect lost-wax cast. The interior surfaces closely conform to the contours of the exterior. The now-lost lid was separately fabricated and attached with a hinge and pin fitting on the back of the head. Details in the headdress were probably worked directly in the wax model. Finer lines in the hair, leaves, and the animal skin garment were incised with a tracer and punches in the metal. Blobs of lead (3 cm in diameter), now partially mineralized, were poured into the bottom left and right corners. The lead on the proper right side is now exposed by the hole at that location. Perhaps the lead served as ballast to make the bust hang in the proper vertical orientation while suspended from the loop or loops on the top of the head. Heavy sheet silver covers the eyes. A hole in the center of each to represent the pupil continues through what appears to be cast holes of the same size in the bronze eyes below the silver. A 5-mm recess on the right nipple is undercut at the edges and once held an inlay, probably a secondary metal such as copper. Two 2-mm iron chaplets on the back right and left of the head are partially intact. The exterior at these locations shows no signs of the chaplets, and they are presumably well hidden by a bronze patch.
Henry Lie (submitted 2001)