Water Spout in the form of the head of a Black African

ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze: Cu, 82.55; Sn, 6.52; Pb, 10.56; Zn, 0.043; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.06; Sb, 0.07; As, 0.11; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.024; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001 J. Riederer

The patina is green with areas of red. A black layer, which is resinous in appearance, lies above the red corrosion layer and between layers of green corrosion products. The black layer is present in small quantities on all of the decorative and non-decorative elements of the surface, including shapes at the top and bottom of the object that appear to be related to mounting. It may be a residue rather than an intentional decorative coating. A modern, threaded mount hole is present on the bottom surface. It does not appear to reuse an ancient hole. The object is a solid cast. The wax model may have been cast or formed directly in the wax. Details including undercuts in the hair were probably formed directly in the wax. The hole from the back of the head to the mouth is c. 6.5 mm in diameter. It slopes downward from back to front at about 35 degrees from horizontal. The hole was drilled from both sides and does not meet perfectly in the middle. This may indicate that it was drilled in the bronze, since cutting a tidier hole all the way through the wax model would have been relatively easy. The hole in the top of the head (1.1 cm in diameter x 1.7 cm deep) appears to have been cast. It does not intersect the front-to-back hole and is off-center from the circular disc shape at the top of the head. Cut marks made by a saw are visible at the top and bottom of the V-shaped opening of the mouth. Since these would have been easily cleaned up in the wax model, it is likely that they were cut into the metal. A 7-mm area surrounding the hole on the back of the head is flat and lacks the hair rendered elsewhere. The surface here may have been connected to a plumbing fixture or other mount. The neck, below which is a smaller-diameter concentric projection, appears to mirror the disc shape with smaller concentric projection on the top of the head. These areas were probably prepared for attachments or mounts. A recess between the neck and smaller disc at the bottom gives the appearance that the smaller disc was inserted like a plug into an opening in the neck of the wax model. No such recess exists between the disc elements at the top of the head. Henry Lie (submitted 2001)