Bronze

“ It would be a mistake, however, to refer all antiquities of bronze to the Bronze age. Vessels, rings, buckles, needles, and the like, were still made of bronze after the end of this period, just as they are even in our own day, but generally of a somewhat different composition from that which prevailed then. "To this age belong only weapons and edge-tools made of bronze, and such vessels and ornaments as are usually found with them." ”

“ Bronze-colour, in imitation of the metal, is much used by the colourmen of Paris, who prepare two sorts of it, namely, the red bronze, and the yellow or golden: the latter is made solely of the very finest and brightest copper-dust ”

“ All these weapons and ornaments of bronze which we have here considered, when first discovered are usually covered with a greenish rust. On the rust being removed, the bronze is found to be so beautiful a metal that it might easily be mistaken for gold, did we not know that gold never rusts, however long it may be buried in the earth. Gold, however, as appears from our previous remarks on the inlaying of swords, helmets, and buttons, was by no means unknown at this time [15] . ”

“ The celt and spear-head follow, gracefully formed and looped in the double mould of stone or bronze. The taste of the more experienced metallurgist also finds room for the exercise of the decorative arts, and transfers to the bronze implements the incised and chevron patterns which were first introduced on his vessels of unbaked clay. Still further evidences of progress will come under our notice, showing the extent to which civilisation had advanced before the late and more familiar metal superseded the works of bronze. ”

“ A fire spread over a house in which were stored some gold and silver and a large quantity of bronze. The whole was fused into one stream of metal, which took its name |C| from the bronze, as the largest ingredient.’ Theon broke in: ‘We have heard a different story, with a spice of mischief in it. A Corinthian bronze-worker found a chest containing much gold. Fearing discovery, he chipped it off little by little, and quietly mixed the bits with the bronze; the result was a marvellous blend, which he sold at a high price, as people were delighted with the beauty of the colour. ”

“ But, when they are to be ornamented, gold or copper leaf or bronze is put on before the application of the last coat of varnish. The bronze used by painters, is finely pulverized copper, tin, or zinc.
10. The ornamenter uses paper patterns, which he applies to the surface to be ornamented, to guide him in the execution of his work. The powder is laid on with a camel's-hair brush, or with a piece of raw cotton. Light and shade are produced by a proper distribution of the powder, or by paint of a dark colour. The bronze is made to adhere by means of size, which has been previously laid on. ”

“ It is necessary in this place to give some account of the bronze of the ancients, a compound fulfilling the most important uses in Greece and Rome. “Money, vases, and utensils of all sorts, whether for domestic or sacrificial purposes, ornaments, arms offensive and defensive, furniture, tablets for inscriptions, musical instruments, and, indeed, every object to which it could be applied, was made of bronze.” [3] Zinc, like steel, was unknown to the ancients. ”

“ Some of the moulds in which the bronze instruments were cast, and 'tags,' as they are called, of bronze, which are formed in the hole through which the fused metal was poured, have been found. The number and variety of objects belonging to the age of bronze indicates its long duration, as does the progress in the arts implied by the rudeness of the earlier tools, often mere repetitions of those of the stone age, as contrasted with the more skilfully worked weapons of a later stage of the same period. ”

“ Bronze Age, which means that the folk were still using stone for their tools and weapons, but were just beginning to employ bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. It is not surprising that bronze has not hitherto been found in the dwellings; it was far too valuable to be left about in such a manner as to be lost, and no surprise need be expressed that it has been discovered in sepulchral monuments appertaining to the same people, for nothing was too good as an offering for the use of the dead in the happy hunting-grounds above. ”

“ Among the bones outside the urn were found various fragments of bronze, six clinch-nails of iron, remains of glass, a burnt oblong loaf of bread, two pieces of a head ornament of bronze with rivets of iron, a ring of bronze, twelve beads of glass of different size and appearance, a damaged hanging ornament of bronze, a square plate of bronze with iron rivets, a denarius of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius coined in A.D. 162. ”

“ Many varieties of bronze have been produced within the last few years that possess features strongly distinguishing them from the ancient alloys, and some very remarkable qualities as compared with them, in view of which they are frequently used in place of even iron and steel, The bronzes of the ancients were composed of copper and tin, as is also what is now regarded as bronze pure and simple, mixed in proportions varying according to the purpose for which the compound is intended. ”

“ On the other hand, the numerous finds of bronze weapons which have been discovered have never been associated with iron, except in cases where the nature of the iron implements shows them to have belonged to a period of transition. (6) The pottery associated with bronze-finds is superior to that found with stone implements, but inferior to that of the iron age, and the potter’s wheel was unknown during the stone and bronze ages. (7) Silver is found associated with iron, but rarely if ever with stone or bronze. (8) No coins or inscriptions of any kind have been found with bronze implements. ”

“ If it had been made of bronze, there would have been no trouble, because bronze, hard as it is after it cools, flows when it is melted almost as easily as molasses and fills every little nook and corner of the mould. ”

“ If we suppose the statue, after it was nearly completed in plaster or clay, not to have been rasped down but simply to have been covered with wax, we shall see that the result would be that the bronze cast would be a little fuller in size and thicker in proportions than the original model. And this is a peculiar characteristic of the ancient bronzes, especially to be observed in the limbs and joints, which are generally larger and puffier in bronze than in marble statues. ”

“ For all ordinary purposes of utility it is the common metal used. A bronze or copper bowl is found in almost every tomb; bronze bolts remain in the pieces of marble used for tesselating; bronze rings sometimes strengthen the cones used for ornamenting walls; bronze weapons and instruments are, as we have seen, common, and in the same material have been found chains, nails, toe and finger rings, armlets, bracelets, and fish-hooks. ”

“ A. Bronze powders are made of various metallic alloys. The gold bronze is usually made of Dutch gold (an alloy of copper and zinc) and of the bisulphide of tin (aurum musivum) . They are usually applied to metal work by means of an oil size or japan varnish. 2. In what way can I remove the old bronze? A. Wash first with a solution of washing soda (hot) , clean and dry, and then rub with a little benzole, alcohol, or ether. ”

“ But portrait-statues of bronze may belong to any age; because, while the sculptor in marble is obliged to produce a work of his own hands and conception, and the date of a marble statue can therefore be determined by comparison with other well-known works, the caster in bronze can easily reproduce specimens of142 earlier and better times by taking a mould from a good original, altering the features slightly, and then casting it in excellent bronze. ”

“ The gold bronze takes on a wonderful polish, and can be made in different colours according to the proportions of the metals used in the alloys, varying from a deep-blue violet to a red-yellow or a golden green. The silver bronze has a fine silver-grey tint. ”

“ Had bronze been obtainable in sufficient quantities to admit of its application to the numerous purposes for which iron has since been used, there was nothing to prevent the accomplishment of nearly all to which European civilisation has since attained, without the knowledge of the new metal. ”

“ At the frontier of history, in each country, we find that the dwellers were acquainted with the use of iron, and had found it to be the most convenient material for the manufacture of cutting weapons and implements. Before this the voice of tradition points out that bronze was the only material used for these purposes, and stone before bronze. These three stages of human culture, or the ages of iron, bronze, and stone, have been fully verified by investigations which have been made in various parts of Europe, into the prehistoric habitations and burial-places of man. ”

“ Heroic medals, which soon became the established meed of egotism and incense of flattery, were at first cast,—and, when machinery became more perfect, were struck,—in an alloy of copper, under the name of bronze. Those of the fifteenth century were of great size, varying from one to four and a half inches in diameter; many bear the names of well-known sculptors and painters as their artists, and exhibit a grandeur of conception unequalled in other numismatic productions. ”

“ When, however, in various countries we find interments and even cemeteries in which bronze and iron weapons and instruments are intermingled, and the forms of those in bronze are what we have learnt from other sources to regard as the latest, while the forms in iron are not those for which that metal is best adapted, but are almost servile copies of the bronze instruments found with them, the proof of the one having succeeded the other is almost absolutely conclusive. ”

“ Men did not immediately cease to use stone implements when bronze was introduced; and bronze continued to be employed for many purposes after the use of iron was well known. [14] Antiquaries have not yet made up their minds to what extent the overlap took place ”

“ An age when iron superseded bronze for weapons and cutting tools, although bronze still remained in use for ornaments. This age continued down to what we call the Historical Period, and embraces our present civilization; its more ancient remains are mixed with coins of the Gauls, Greeks, and Romans.
The Bronze Period has been one of the perplexing problems of European scientists. Articles of bronze are found over nearly all that continent, but in especial abundance in Ireland and Scandinavia. They indicate very considerable refinement and civilization upon the part of the people who made them ”

“ According to the Arundelian Marbles, iron was discovered b.c. 1432, [54] or 248 years before the taking of Troy, but though we have occasional mention of this metal and of steel in the Homeric poems, yet weapons and tools of bronze are far more commonly mentioned and described. Trees, for instance, are cut down and wood carved with tools of bronze; and the battle-axe of Menelaus [55] is of excellent bronze with an olive-wood handle, long and well polished. ”

“ Gold plating was applied with dexterity to bronze and iron alike; decoration not without delicacy and grace appears upon the hilts of swords, and cleverly conceived motives, modelled and chiselled with ability, are seen upon the pommels,—motives indicating that the artists of that early epoch had passed the stage of merely copying natural objects and had learned to conventionalise them. ”

“ Bronze spread to Europe from south to north along the established trade routes; and the theory, once held, that a Bronze Age developed independently among the rude races of Northern Europe is no longer accepted. The discovery of well-wrought weapons in early graves shows206 that the inhabitants of the British Isles first knew bronze, in its best form, as a foreign introduction, before they manufactured the metal for themselves. ”

“ All kinds of ornaments may be made in bronze—small animals, fish, shells, birds, statuary, etc. The mixture for casts should be the same shade as the bronze used.
Fish may be bronzed in silver, gold, and copper bronze; shells in silver, copper, gold, and some may be tinted with fire bronze on the exterior of the shell, but the interior of almost all shells must be tinted with paint; dogs in zinc, silver, and copper; birds in almost any shade. ”

“ No antiquary of experience will deny that many bronze ornaments, and even some bronze weapons, remained in use long after iron and even steel were known, any more than he would deny that the use of stone for certain purposes continued not only after bronze was known, but even after iron and steel were in general use, and, in fact, up to the present time, not only in barbarian but in civilised countries. ”

“ For the male portrait, modern taste121 generally prefers bronze to marble; and just as the dead whiteness of marble may be relieved by color, so the severe darkness of bronze in statue or bust may be altered by the use of a harmonious patina. Many of our sculptors have given long and patient study to this subject of “patine”; others again trust all to the bronze founder. But sculpture still has much to learn from chemistry; and there are still a few artists who keep enough of the weaker side of craftsmanship to believe in the advisability of secret processes. ”

“ The material he considered to be "white bronze," a compound of copper and tin, resembling silver; and the enrichments are of the most elaborate variety, comprising examples of enamelled work and of niello; interlacements and designs of most intricate character, of which not less than seventy-six varieties occur; and there are small human heads, cut or cast, with marvellous delicacy, the material amber-coloured, and supposed to be glass. ”