Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988

ANALYSES - METALS - László GERE - László KÖLTŐ: Application of X-ray emission analysis in late medieval and early modern age archaeology

dlestick can be seen on Gerard Dou's (Leiden 1613 - 1675) painting 'Painter in the atelier' (MANFRED 1982: fig.96). The discoid-shaped candlestick foot No. II.7. can be dated to the beginning of the 16

th с. (Pl.3.7.) which is supported, in addition to its burial time, by the large, flat-footed candlesticks on the catafalque of King Ulászló the Second. Evaluation of the composition analyses of the bronze finds from Ozora Hungarian and European ware - Christian cultural tradition The analysis of the element compositions of finds with regard to functional and chronological aspects revealed that various raw material compositions were used even within the same period. It is not astonishing, nevertheless, since written sources tell that red-copper smiths and red-copper founders were distinguished during the medieval times and the early modern age. Red-copper smiths hammered first of all vessels. Red-copper founders cast balance weights, candlesticks, barrel taps, bells and gun-barrels. The same distinction was made between brass founders and braziers. The former produced, first of all, elements of attire, the letter cast candlesticks, extinguishers and brass mortars. Bell and gun founders worked within the guild of tin-founders (NAGYBÁKAI 1955: 44-47). Usually, decorative objects - head-dress, knife-handle plaiting - were made from raw materials with a high zinc content. In objects of daily use, the zinc content is somewhat lower while the ratio of tin and antimony grows. The discrepancy between the composition of objects from the same period is certainly due to various workshop centres. The evaluation of composition analysis and archaeological dating led to the following results. The small number of find materials dated to the first half of the 15th с can be characterised, beside the relatively high iron impurity (0.14-0.27%), by the reduced ratio of copper (64-69 %) and a high zinc ratio (28-31 %). A group of objects, dated from the second half of the 15th c, displayed no iron impurity and contained 29.44 % zinc. Another group of objects from the same period contained iron impurity, some only a minimal quantity (0.01-0.09%), while others somewhat more (0.14-0.27%). The copper content of pieces with iron impurity was 72-76%, their zinc content 23-26.73%. Lower zinc content was characteristic of the find material dated to the last decades of the same century. The role of the elements represented in less than a few tenths percent, such as iron are not discussed here. These may be indicative of the type of copper ore but may also have been mixed into the bronze as an additive to influence castability, solidity as well as compactness or colour. An analysis from this respect may yield important data concerning medieval bronze casting. As yet, however, it cannot be decided whether it would be justified to group finds from the same period and with identical composition on the basis of the lack or eventual ratio of iron impurity. The only difference in composition between the finds dated to the last decades of the 15th с and first decades of the 16th с and the former group appears in the zinc content, which reaches the lowest values: 19-20%. Objects without and with 0.01-0.09 % iron impurity, with otherwise identical element composition, can be found, as well, among finds of the 16th с It should be noted that the decrease in zinc content, which started at the beginning of the century, continued. Two finds from the end of the first third of he century contained already 83% copper and 19.91 zinc. The same trend seems to hold true for iron impurity in the finds from the 17th с The relatively constant level of iron impurity for several centuries and its total lack in parallel 144