Eckhard Deschler-Erb, Philippe Della Casa (eds.). New Research on Ancient Bronzes.

Acta of the XVIIIth International Congress on Ancient Bronzes.

Zurich Studies in Archaeology, Vol. 10, 2015, 305–310.

Polychrome Production
of a Romano-Egyptian Workshop
Alessandra Giumlia-Mair
Alessandra Giumlia-Mair, AGM Archeoanalisi, via E. Toti 8, I-39012 Merano (BZ), giumlia@yahoo.it

Recent analyses identified striking similarities in the production technique of objects with polychrome decoration, found
in various regions of the Roman Empire. The choice of coloured alloys employed for the inlays, the technical details and
the motives of the decorative figures represented on the magnificent artifacts indicate a Romano-Egyptian provenance.
The similarities are too marked to be casual and with all probability they testify to production from one and the same work-
shop. In this paper the unusual patinated alloys of the inlays identified on the artifacts are illustrated and compared with
several ancient recipes.
Key words: artificial patination, polychromy, inlays, Roman Egypt

1. Introduction lays are made of a silver alloy with around 14% of copper and
In May 2011, at the 17th  Bronze Conference organized in with ca. 2.5–3% of arsenic. The gold inlays contain ca. 6% of
Izmir (regrettably as today still unpublished), we presented silver and 2% of copper.
the only vessels made of the black artificially patinated and
inlaid alloy called Corinthian bronze identified up to now
(Giumlia-Mair  & Mrav in print). These are the richly in-
laid vessels, an urceus (ewer) and a trulleum (skillet) with
egyptianizing motives (fig.  1–2)  – found in 1831 at Egyed
(Hungary) in an unidentified Roman building, and now be-
longing to the collections of the Hungarian National Mu-
seum (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum) in Budapest. They have
been interpreted as a hand-washing set belonging to the
ritual inventory of an Isis sanctuary (Nuber 1972), brought
to Pannonia by traders of Italian origin around the mid-
dle or in the second half of the 1st century C. E. The urceus
shows an array of Egyptian gods, among which for exam-
ple Horus and Thot can be easily recognized. The trulleum
shows intricate inlays representing a crocodile attacked by
a hippopotamus among Nilotic vegetation and water birds.
The composite flowers with red-patinated inlays (fig. 3) on
the internal sides of the trulleum, and the composition of
the golden and silvery inlays on the vessels are especially
relevant for this research.
Both vessels are made of Corinthian bronze (Gium-
lia-Mair & Craddock 1993; 1995). The trulleum is made of a
copper-based alloy with a gold content of around 2% and
0.5% of silver and arsenic. The handle has a slightly differ-
ent composition with 1.7% Au and 1.3% Ag, and 0.5% As, but
the difference is most probably only due to the fact that the
two parts have been cast separately. The silvery inlays are
made of silver containing ca. 16% Cu and a very noticeable
amount of arsenic of 3%. The gold alloy contains ca. 3.5% Ag
and 2% Cu. The bright red patinated alloy is copper with
lead and arsenic at trace level. The urceus body is made of a
Fig. 1. Egyptianizing urceus from Egyed, now in the National Museum
copper based alloy containing ca. 2% of tin, ca. 0.5% of arse-
Budapest, made of Corinthian bronze, with Egyptian gods inlaid in gold.
nic and iron, 1.5% of gold and ca. 1% of silver. The silvery in- (Photo: A. Giumlia-Mair)

305
Fig. 2. Egyptianizing trulleum from Egyed in the National Museum Buda-
pest, made of Corinthian bronze, with a Nilotic scene inlaid in silver and
gold. (Photo: A. Giumlia-Mair)
As discussed in Giumlia-Mair & Mrav (in print), the use
of complex silvery alloys containing some arsenic and the
black- and red-patinated alloys seem to indicate that the
artisans who produced the vessels knew how to use alche-
mistic recipes, such as those of the Alexandrian alchemists
(Berthelot 1888) or of the Stockholm and Leyden papyri
(Halleux 2002; Giumlia Mair 2000; 2002). Some other ob-
jects, the famous Mensa Isiaca in the Museo Egizio, Turin,
Italy, a strigilis in the Louvre and the forceps now in the
Metropolitan Museum in New York are comparable because
of their style, and the colouring and composition of the in-
lays.
2. Mensa Isiaca
The Mensa Isiaca belongs to the collections of the Museo
Egizio in Turin, and is a large bronze table (74 × 123 × 7 cm) –
originally an altar top – inlaid with 52 polychrome figures,
and with a very large number of minor ornaments, hiero-
glyphs and ornamental details grouped around the figures
(fig.  4). The Mensa Isiaca was also known as Tabula Bem-
bina, from the name of its first known owner, the famous
Renaissance scholar and collector of ancient art Cardinal
Pietro Bembo, who seems to have bought it in Rome. Ac-
cording to a different report, however, he might have re-
ceived it as a present from Pope Paul III. After his death the
piece belonged for a short time to the House of Gonzaga,
but already in 1625 the Mensa came to Turin as precious
possession of Duke Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy.
The Mensa Isiaca had an enormous impact on the
scholars and collectors of the Renaissance, who hypothe­
sized a myriad of theories on the meaning of the object
and its iconography. The Duke of Savoy even sent schol-
ars to Egypt and bought Egyptian antiquities, in the hope
of understanding the significance of the Mensa. This also
was the beginning of the collection of the Museo Egizio
in Turin, now the second largest Egyptological museum
in the world after the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in
Cairo. The interest of scholars in the Mensa Isiaca, however,
abruptly diminished as soon as they discovered that the
object had to be dated to the Roman period and was not an
ancient Egyptian work. The frieze and the hieroglyphs are
306
Fig. 3. Detail of the trulleum from Egyed with gold, silver and red inlays.
(Photo: A. Giumlia-Mair)
egyptianizing in style and typical for the Romano-Egyp-
tian world, but as still unpublished research by Eleni Vassi-
lika has shown, the hieroglyphics seem to be nonsensical
and many of the attributes of the figures have no parallels.
Nevertheless she stated that the iconography is Egyptian,
and the scene seems to represent a pharaoh and his wife
performing rituals in a temple. The entire table, which is
in excellent condition and essentially free of corrosion, is
framed by a silvery frieze of a vine-like pattern and Egyp-
tian motifs, building three registers of scenes, and many
details of the figures show golden- and silvery-coloured
details, however the most impressive features are its multi-
coloured and minutely depicted inlaid figures. Seven co-
lours can be immediately recognized: the already men-
tioned silvery colour of the frieze, used also for architectural
elements and, combined with other colours, for clothes;
the golden colour, used for jewelry and for example for the
wings of gods and fabulous animals; a bright red, similar to
that of the red inlays of the vessel from Egyed, here mostly
employed for the bodies of male figures, cloths, sun disks
etc.; a pale yellow colour used for the bodies of female fig-
ures or of gods; an ochre-orange colour, for clothes and
other details; the black colour of wigs, skull caps etc., that
can be recognised as some kind of Corinthian bronze, and
finally the bronze of the base. All colours are employed by
themselves or combined with each other to create different
nuances and a surprisingly rich palette.
3. Methods of analysis
Around 100 inlays have been analysed for this project, with
the aim of identifying their composition and the produc-
tion technology and compare them with those of the ves-
sels from Egyed. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (here-
after XRF) is a well known non-destructive method which
has been widely employed in archaeology (Hall et al. 1973;
McKerrel 1974; Hackens  et  al. 1977; Helmig  et  al. 1989;
Lutz et al. 1996). The equipment consists of an X-ray source,
a transformer, a tripod, a stabilizer and a computer with
dedicated program for the analysis of ancient metals. The
set is transportable and can be brought anywhere, even
to excavations, for the fast identification of the materials.
Fig. 4. The famous Mensa Isiaca (Museo Egizio, Turin), on a drawing made for the Renaissance scholar Athanasius Kircher in 1654, shows 52 inlaid figures
of humans, gods and animals. The inlays are black, red, yellow, orange/ochre, silvery and golden.
XRF can simultaneously detect the presence of over thirty
elements, and it is a fast and effective method, but some
precautions must be taken to guarantee precise measure-
ments. The main part containing the XRF source (or head)
of the system has various useful characteristics, such as
a collimator that can change the diameter of the beam as
required by the characteristics of the object and its con-
servation, a laser pointer, indicating the exact spot on the
specimen to be measured and a device to keep the exact
distance from the sample. An acoustic signal confirms that
the distance is correct before each measurement (within
the acceptable span of ±  0.1  mm). The right position of
the beam, that has to be the same for all objects and per-
fectly vertical to the sample, can be controlled and carefully
planned by using the devices built in the support of the
XRF. The X-rays can penetrate the metals only to around
0.1 mm, and ancient materials can be heavily corroded and
are mostly covered by a patina. The most serious problem is
that of obtaining measurement data which are representa-
tive of the bulk composition. To guarantee reliable results,
in particular if the patina is rough, the upper layer should be
removed by a skilled restorer on a hidden area that can be
abraded. Luckily in the case of the vessels from Egyed this
has not been necessary, because both vessels have many
areas which are free from corrosion, because of the treat-
ment with acids at the time of the discovery, but care had to
be taken to avoid the layer of dissolved silver and/or copper
that covers some areas of the finds. As already mentioned,
the surface of the Mensa Isiaca is almost completely free
of corrosion, and the analyses did not represent a problem.
For the analyses calculations various standards of different
composition, especially produced by AGM Archeoanalisi
for the analysis of ancient metal alloys and in particular for
patinated alloys, have been used. They represent a funda-
mental tool for the evaluation of the results and to monitor
interference effects.
4. Discussion of results
The analyses identified an array of unusual alloys, some of
which are artificially black-, red-, yellow- and orange-pati-
nated (fig. 5). Only Isis’ body, in the aedicula at the centre of
the Mensa, is made of a good, albeit anomalous, silver alloy
containing ca. 6% Cu and Sn, over 1% As and Au, and some
Sb. The addition of arsenic to copper produces a silvery
alloy that the alchemists called “our silver” (Giumlia-Mair
2008; Giumlia-Mair  & Györy 2007). It is important to note
that the silver inlay of the face contains 2% Au (the highest
gold content determined in silvery alloys) and less arse-
nic and antimony, i. e., the more important the figure, the
better was the quality of the alloy employed. As a compari-
son the silvery alloy used for the face of the god Bes on the
right side of the central panel contains ca. 20% Cu, 25% Sn,
ca. 2% Pb, over 1.5% As and Fe, and 0.5% Au, while the silvery
frieze contains 35% Cu, over 10% Sn, over 1% Sb, and no de-
tectable gold.
None of the golden coloured inlays is made of pre-
cious metal, but they consist of bronze containing around
12% of tin, mixed with the same amount of silver and 5–6%
307
Fig. 5. Detail of the Mensa Isiaca, male figure with rather intricate black,
red, silvery, orange, yellow and golden inlays. The height of the figure,
as shown on the photo is ca. 18 cm (with headgear).
(Photo: A. Giumlia-Mair)
of gold. The result was a yellow metal with relatively good
properties. The inlays representing jewels also contain ca.
2% of arsenic, most probably added to the alloy for mystical,
rather than metallurgical reasons. Finally, in some inlays,
especially in the golden wings, the alloy employed is cop-
per with 39% of tin, 25% of silver, 5% of gold and over 3% of
arsenic. The precious metals and the high tin improve the
colour and prevent the tarnishing of the metal as long as it
is regularly cleaned and polished. These kinds of alloys are
known from the recipes of the Alexandrian alchemists and
from texts such as the Leiden- and Stockholm papyri. One
of the processes described in the texts was the diplosis, i. e.
the doubling of the weight of gold by using a “treated” gold
that had the role of “ferment of gold”. They imagined that
this special gold was a seed that could be fed by adding sil-
ver and copper. The combined metals did not change much
the colour of gold, as they were yellowish. The treated metal
was still quite resistant to chemicals and could be employed
for castings, but it needed to be worked by skilled artisans,
because its malleability was much lower than that of gold.
This did not hinder the belief that it was gold, as at the
time people were convinced of the existence of different
qualities of gold (or of other metals), that depended on the
deposits from which they came. If the gold was not as mal-
leable as expected or had a strange colour, the reason was
that it was gold of lesser quality that needed purification.
This was, at least, the version alchemists chose to spread
308
Fig. 6. Detail of the Mensa Isiaca: delicate inlaying representing the hands
of an offering female figure. The skin is yellow, the contours are black, the
feather is golden and the cup silvery. The length of the arms is ca. 3 cm.
(Photo: A. Giumlia-Mair)
among followers, even if they knew very well how to assay
gold and silver.
The inlays on the bulls and the caps of smaller figures
are deep black, and made of copper containing only small
amounts of gold. Furthermore the black squares on the pil-
lars of Isis’ aedicula (small shrine) are made of copper con-
taining small amounts of gold, arsenic and iron, and shone
with a bluish iridescence that is still visible on some of the
inlays.
The red inlays consist of patinated pure copper or of a
copper alloy containing up to 3% of tin and silver and some
traces of lead, depending on the desired red nuance. The
red patination was successfully reproduced in the past (Gi-
umlia-Mair & Lehr 1998; 2003). The orange-patinated inlays
are brass containing 20% of zinc and the traces of iron that
are typical for Roman brasses, while the yellow-patinated
inlays are made of a brass containing tin, silver and ar-
senic (fig.  6). An orange/ochre-patinated strigilis, dated to
the 1st century A. D., found at Sicca Veneria (modern Le Kef
in Tunisia) made of a similar composition was identified
in the Louvre (inv.  n.  BR 1582). It is made of copper with
around 19% Zn and traces of iron and arsenic, and shows a
decorated handle with patinated ivy leaves, the figure of a
wrestler and two patinated sections with a chessboard pat-
tern (Mathis et al. 2005). It is certainly significant that this
item was found in Tunisia. A further object from Northern
Africa, the impressive polychrome drapery from Volubilis
Fig. 7. Detail of the Mensa Isiaca with lion with Horus head. H. of frame ca. 5.5 cm. (Photo: A. Giumlia-Mair)

in Morocco, analysed in 1969 (Boube-Piccot 1969), also has,

among different colours, an orange patination, apparently
on a copper/zinc/lead alloy (Boube-Piccot 1966; Gium-
lia-Mair  & Craddock 1993; 1995), and its inlays very much
remind us of those on the Mensa Isiaca. A new and more
detailed analysis of all patinated inlays of the drapery would
be extremely interesting and useful.
Red inlays similar to those on the trulleum from Egyed
and the Mensa Isiaca are also recognizable on the superb
forceps found at Trabzon, Turkey, now on display in the
Metropolitan Museum, New York, regrettably to my knowl-
edge not yet analysed. The style and the shapes of the inlays
are in some details almost identical to the ones of the Mensa
Isiaca. For instance the lion with the Horus head is depicted
on both with a red-patinated body inlaid with silver wires,
the head is silvery and the headgear black (fig. 7 a, b). The
bodies of the females on the forceps also seem to be inlaid
with a yellow-patinated alloy.
Such similarities can hardly be accidental, and the
shapes, the motives, the alloys employed and the patination
treatments all seem to indicate that the vessels from Egyed,
the Mensa Isiaca, the drapery from Volubilis and perhaps
also the strigilis from Sicca Veneria come from one and the
same workshop.

Fig. 8. Shears from Trabzon. The Horus lion is identical to that of the Mensa,
except for the size, and the figures are very similar.
(Photos: A. Giumlia-Mair)

309
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