Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 95. (Budapest, 2001)
TÓTH, MÁRIA - BERTÓTI, IMRE - MOHAI, MIKLÓS - FÓRIZS, ISTVÁN -VOZIL, IRÉN: Material analysis of the bronze statuette of Imhotep
These questions cannot be fully answered yet, because information on chemical composition is available only for a limited number of accurately dated bronze objects, and because of errors in dating and in earlier analytical data. In any case, our results still contribute to the clarification of the genetics of the bronze statuette. It can be stated that the differences in the chemical compositions are significant. The quantitative ratios of the bronze components determined for the statuette indicate that the compositions are the results of intentional alloying (well defined technology), and not the results of impurities. When comparing these numbers to those of the published examples 7 we can conclude that the tin-bronze part (chair and its base) was intentionally alloyed with lead. 8 It is well known that in the Third Intermediate Period, traces or very small amounts of lead can be detected in copper alloys, however, this can not be considered as intended alloying. The lead might come from recycled material (from import) or from natural impurities. This can be stated in spite of the fact that when analysing the works of art dated to this period, some alloys were identified with an exceptionally high lead (25% or higher) content 9 . However, on the basis of the large amount of data (cf. Diagram 4), the generally accepted idea 10 is that the bronze alloys with a high lead content are among the characteristic features of the Late Period and this tendency is extended to the Ptolemaic Age. In the Graeco-Roman Period the picture is already rather mixed. The first ore mine with high lead concentration 1 1 (calculated for metallic lead as 25 - 55%, in addition to 37% zinc, a small amount of silver, and traces of gold could be detected) is known from the Saite Period in Egypt (Gebel Rosas). Despite the fact that galenite (PbS), the most important lead ore, was used in Egypt from the earliest time, 12 it was known and accepted relatively late in metallurgy. To do this, it was necessary to have their own mining operation. By accepting the last statement, the bronze composition of the body and that of the footstool is associated with the time when the works of art were made of a material mined from their own mine and manufactured in an intended procedure. At the same time, the material of the chair and that of its base could be associated with the works of art made in earlier periods. The above statements are illustrated by listing the available data in Diagram 4. Two seemingly contradicting data were intentionally left in the figure. One of them might be disregarded due to its 7 Riederer, J., op. cit.: Lucas, A., Appendix, 483-489. Pelleg, J. - Baram, J. - Oren, E.D., Analysis of Bronze Arrowheads of the Saite Period from the Nile Delta Region, Metallography 16 (1983), 91-98; Ogden, J., Metals, in Nicholson, P. - Show, J. cà.. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge (2000), 148-176. 8 Ogden, L, op. cit., 155. 9 See n. 7 and 8. 10 Ogden, J., op. cit. 11 Lucas, A., op. cit., 243. 12 It was used as eye paint up to the Coptic Period from the Badari Culture, see Lucas, A., op. cit., 243.
