Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 95. (Budapest, 2001)
VOZIL, IRÉN: Technical analysis, restoration and evaluation of material testing of the bronze statuette of Imhotep
The dating of the mentioned sample seems to be insufficient to regard it as a milestone in alloy production regarding the intentional inclusion of lead as an alloying element in the products. A similar problem is encountered with the sample originating also from Dynasty XXV, 22 where the dating indicates a definite interval. However, from its analysis, it is apparent that a quantity of 21.4% remains undetermined. This might question the usability of the sample in this important issue. If we compare the data included in the mentioned work of Riederer (according to which the emergence of lead, i.e. the intentional use of higher amounts of lead as an alloying element of bronze can be dated to the middle of the first millennium before Christ) with the mining data published by Lucas 23 (according to which the first rich lead mine was opened in the territory of Egypt in the Saite Period), then it is reasonable to assume that the lead as an alloying element was used generally from the Saite Period on. Based on the above mentioned details the contradiction is not so extensive now. The new analytical data will probably allow an even more accurate dating. It is unfortunate that in the cited work of Riederer (which provides plenty of data based on modern measuring technology), the age of the tested objects are not mentioned. For this reason we can only assume that the composition 24 of the Imhotep statuette in Berlin mentioned by Gaboda as an analogy, belongs to the medley tinTead bronze category which is identical to what we investigated. This statue was mentioned by Gaboda as an analogy from the Late Period. Here it is evident that the extent of the lead content was intentionally predetermined. According to literary sources, the tin bronze alloy used for the chair and the base was no longer in wide use at the time of the Dynasty XXVI. The use of this alloy was being phased out, although some workshops still used it. We can suppose that after the introduction of the less rigid and brittle lead alloys, that is not in the early phase, there were only a few foundries which used the two base materials together. It is even more improbable that different materials were used for two parts of the same object. The assumption that the body and the footstool were produced at different times is confirmed by the fact that the chair and the base are made of a typical tin bronze on the basis of the above mentioned analytical results. What seems to be sure now is that the body with the footstool is younger, because the materials used for their construction were made with a more recent composition in relation to the material of the chair and the base. 25 22 Berthelot, M.. Monuments Piot, VII (1900), p. 125; Ann.Chim.Et Phys. XXIII (1901), p. 11; Lucas, op.cit. p. 486. 23 Lucas, op.cit. p. 243. 24 Riederer, J., Metallanalysen ägyptischer Bronzestatuetten aus deutschen Museen,Ber liner Beiträge zur Archäometrie 10 (1988) pp. 5-20, N° 173. Composition: Cu: 70.63%, Sn: 12.23%, Pb: 15.06%. 25 A more accurate dating would be possible if the geological age of the ore mines of the region were available, and if a lead isotope measurement could be made for the identification of the place of the mine. For this purpose, however, it would be necessary to take a larger amount of samples from the material, which cannot be done without causing damage to the object.
