God Standing on a Quadruped

ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze: Cu, 92.36; Sn, 6.44; Pb, 0.6; Zn, 0.03; Fe, 0.03; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.03; Sb, 0.12; As, 0.33; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001 J. Riederer

The patina is a mottled dark brown and green, with a few lighter brown and green accretions on the animal and legs of the figure. A modern threaded hole at the bottom of the animal’s feet served to mount the bronze, but it is not clear how the group would have been originally mounted to a base or other object. Judging from the soft modeling and bending of the limbs of the male and the animal figures, both were modeled in wax. The god was joined in the wax to the animal’s back in a relatively crude fashion, and they were cast together in one piece. The ears and hands of the deity were pierced before casting, but whatever earrings or attributes were attached to the figure are now missing. The edge of the hat on the back of the figure’s head is still relatively crisp, but almost all decorative features on the surface have been erased as a result of electrolytic and mechanical cleaning, which has left much of the surface pitted and smoothed. The uneven horizontal marks along the neck of the figure are the result of post-excavation filing or cleaning, and the crisp straight indentation of the mouth may also have been slightly enhanced with a straight flat punch. Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)