Noble metal

“ We have, secondly, work in bronze, iron, gold, and [Pg 97] other metals; in which the laws of structure are still more definite.
All kinds of twisted and wreathen work on every scale become delightful when wrought in ductile or tenacious metal; but metal which is to be hammered into form separates itself into two great divisions—solid, and flat.
a. In solid metal-work, i.e., metal cast thick enough to resist bending, whether it be hollow or not, violent and various projection may be admitted, which would be offensive in marble ”

“ There are apparently no traces of implements of war.
In metal there are numerous and somewhat remarkable works. They are of gold, gold-copper alloy, copper, and bronze. The objects are of small size, rarely reaching a pound in weight, and they are almost exclusively pendent ornaments. They were, for the most part, cast in molds, and in nine cases out of ten represent animal forms. A few bells are found, all of which are of bronze. Pieces formed of alloyed metal are usually washed or plated with pure gold.
The great body of relics are in clay, and the workmanship displayed is often admirable. ”

“ And not only in bronze, but in Paris jewellery, enamels, silver, pewter and iron work a cultured refinement is apparent, beside which other productions, even the most finished, appear crude. The French artist attains his ideal, and it is difficult to imagine, from his standpoint, that the metal-work of the present can be surpassed. The best English metal-worker, on the contrary, is probably not often quite satisfied with the results he attains, perhaps because in, Great Britain the pursuit of art has for centuries been fitful and individual, while in France art traditions are hereditary. ”

“ In very truth, even the works of art, elegant, embellished, elaborate, useful, are fashioned in various shapes by the artist from the metals gold, silver, brass, lead, and iron. How few artists could make anything that is beautiful and perfect without using metals? Even if tools of iron or brass were not used, we could not make tools of wood and stone without the help of metal. ”

“ In most of the European countries quite distinct styles and even unique treatment of metals have been noticeable; so much so that our museums to-day contain [318] groups of metal-work having little or no affinity to one another, although coming, perhaps, from towns not far removed in point of geographical position. The collector recognizes as distinct the bronzes of Italy; the screens, candlesticks, and ecclesiastical metal-work of Spain; the beaten bronze, champlevé enamels, and the decorative brass of the Empire period of France ”

“ Nevertheless, the circumstance is worthy of notice in passing, since it is not impossible that the working in gold may have preceded even the age of bronze, and in reality have belonged, as already hinted, to the Stone Period. If metal could be found capable of being wrought and fashioned without smelting or moulding, its use was perfectly compatible with the simple arts of the Stone Period. ”

“ The changes consequent on the introduction of Iron, to a people already familiar with the smelting of tin and copper ores and the fabrication of weapons and implements of bronze, were not necessarily of a radical character, and undoubtedly were first experienced in the gradual acquirement of the new metal from foreign sources. ”

“ As it has already been intimated, our older metal curios come to us from the Bronze Age. In the relics of that period, in which the British Museum is so rich, we are able to mark the great difference that must have existed between the people who lived the "simple life" in the Stone Age, and those who understood how to make and how to use implements of bronze. Metal must have revolutionized the habits of the people, fostered development, and marked progress as the Age advanced ”

“ In Egypt and Babylon many of the inscriptions make mention of the use of iron as well as bronze, although the extended use of the former must have come about some time after the latter. At first all war instruments were stone and wood and later bronze, which were largely replaced by iron at a still later period. The making of spears, swords, pikes, battle-axes, and other implements of war had much to do with the development of ingenious work in metals. The final perfection of metal work could only be attained by the manufacture of finely treated steel. ”

“ We look in vain for “plumbum,” the metal one would most naturally expect to find mentioned. The word æs, though strictly meaning bronze, is undoubtedly to be taken in its wider sense, already familiar in the fifteenth century, of metal in the abstract, and to include, at least, the lead, tin, or pewter in which the types were almost certainly cast. The reference to copper and bronze might either apply to the early punches or the later matrices; but in no case is it probable that types were cast in either metal. ”

“ Those who fashioned them were clever manipulators of the alloyed metal, and by processes now little understood were able to temper tools and weapons and to give them keen-cutting edges. Our museums are full of spear-heads, celts, axes, and palstaves of bronze, which were cast in moulds of stone cut to the required shapes by those primitive workers in metal, who used simple crucibles in which it was melted. ”

“ How wonderfully beneficial to mankind is this beautiful arrangement of the metallic fibrous system! Without it what could we do? our manufactures would be confined to simple castings, or crystallizations, possessed merely of strength in proportion to the cohesive nature of the metal. Where would be all the wonderful springs whose fineness vies with the silken fibre? Of what could they be constructed? All-powerful gold would not suffice, nor silver; though each, in its place, possesses wonderful properties. ”

“ There is a considerable leap from stone to bronze, but the leap from bronze to iron is comparatively small.... It seems highly improbable, if not altogether absurd, that the human mind, at some particular stage of its development, should here, there, and everywhere—independently, and as the result of reaching that stage—discover that an alloy of copper and tin yields a hard metal useful in the manufacture of tools and weapons. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Let there be some more test made of my metal,
I. 1.
50 Before so noble and so great a figure
Be stamp’d upon it. ”

“ Metal itself implied metal-working; and metal-working brought about, not only the arts of smelting and casting, but also endless incidental arts of design and decoration. The bronze hatchets, for example, to take our typical implement, begin by being mere copies of the stone originals; but, as time goes on, they acquire rapidly innumerable improvements. First, metal is economized in the upper part which fits into the handle, while the lower or cutting edge is widened out sideways, so as to form an elegant and gracefully curved outline for the whole implement. ”

“ Beyond a certain price, it was more advantageous to purchase metal implements, of copper in the early ages, afterwards of bronze, and lastly of iron. Among the metal-founders and smiths all kinds of examples of these were to be found—axes of an elegant and graceful design, hammers and knives, as well as culinary and domestic utensils, cups, cauldrons, dishes, mountings of doors and coffers, statuettes of men, bulls, monsters, and gods—which could be turned to weapons of all descriptions—arrow and lance heads, swords, daggers, and rounded helmets with neck-piece or visor. ”

“ If the same thing happened in the most progressive parts of the Eastern Hemisphere some 6,000 years ago, acquaintance with the metal may before long have been succeeded by the invention of the arts of casting and extracting it from its ores. When, not many centuries later, the hardening powers of an admixture of tin were discovered and bronze with its far greater serviceability for tools became known, a powerful impetus was surely given to the new metallurgy, which was restricted only by the limitations of the supply of metal, especially tin. ”

“ Statuary Bronze.—Many of the antique statues were made of genuine bronze, which has advantages for this purpose, but has been superseded in modern times by mixtures of metals containing, besides copper and tin—the constituents of real bronze—a quantity of zinc, the alloy thus formed being really an intermediate product between bronze and brass. The reason for the use of such mixtures lies partly in the comparative cheapness of their production as compared with genuine bronze, and partly in the purpose for which the metal is to be used. ”

“ There must have been long searching and experimenting before the classical recipe for bronze, ninety per cent copper and ten per cent tin, was established. We cannot well speak of a new copper culture or period. This began with the introduction of the harder and more beautiful, but always rare and expensive bronze. Still the great characteristic of the Bronze Age lay not so much in the introduction of a new metal as in the wider relations, communications, exchange of goods, and knowledge, and freer movements of individuals and peoples, which had brought it about. ”

“ There are some who from the curios—old and new—have apparently, until taught their use by travellers and traders from the far-off West, never discovered the value of metals. Some of the native races—not a few of them fellow-subjects of the Empire—as yet prefer wood, stone, and crude pottery vessels and utensils to metal, judging from the very limited use of the few brass or copper objects they possess, those few, probably, being imported. The ethnology of the race is traced in these relics, especially in the really old ones. ”

“ Were we indeed to select the most perfect and highly finished productions resulting from the knowledge of working in metals, and to place these alongside of the best works of the Stone Period, we could hardly avoid the conclusions, already adopted by northern archæologists, that the works in metal belong to an entirely new and distinct race. [292] A more careful investigation, however, tends greatly to modify such conclusions in regard to the British bronze remains. ”

“ 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. ”

“ People in the culture of the Stone Age make but very rare use of metal, as metals are to them simply varieties of stone, much less useful for their purpose than the different kinds of flints, except for ornaments. From the altar mounds, near Cincinnati, were taken ornaments of silver, copper, iron and traces of gold, all of which had been worked into their present shape by simply hammering. The iron, it should be remarked, was meteoric iron, which can be hammered as easily as native copper. ”

“ Very few metals are used alone in the various arts and manufactures. For every purpose some combination has been found which makes the product better. Even coins are so alloyed. Silver and gold in the form of money would be entirely too soft, unless alloyed with some hardening metal. Some substances, like arsenic, antimony and bismuth, are too brittle to be used alone. The only metals which can be used alone are aluminum, zinc, iron, tin, copper, lead, mercury, silver, gold and platinum."
"What is bronze, of which all the ancient guns were made?" ”

“ A beautiful little New Testament of 1643 with silver [161] portraits of Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria, and cornerpieces and clasps engraved with allegorical figures, shows that metal on velvet was still a popular style, but on later bindings in England metal centrepieces fell quite out of use. Metal corners, however, were still used for some time, and clasps occasionally. ”

“ Very stiff and very elastic, tougher than iron, very little acted upon chemically, and in certain cases not at all, capable of being cast like ordinary bronze or brass, forged like iron and steel, of being worked in every way like the most malleable metals or alloys, having, added to these properties, a color analogous to that of the most precious metal, this bronze proves itself adapted to uses almost innumerable. ”

“ Iron had now become the principal manufacture of Gloucestershire, and in the reign of Edward I. there is stated to have been no less than 72 furnaces in the Forest of Dean for smelting it. The largest establishments of the Romans for the manufacture of iron in Britain were in this county, but the method, whatever it may have been, which they employed was imperfect and the cinders of their numerous forges, wherever they are discovered, are found to contain a very considerable portion of unsmelted metal. ”

“ Whatever doubts may arise relative to the native origin of British metallurgy, and the works of art of the European Bronze Period, in consequence of their most characteristic illustrations being preserved in the mixed metal, bronze, and not in pure copper: there is no room for any such doubts relative to the primitive metallurgy of the New World. ”