Patera (shallow bowl) Handle in the Form of a Lion

XRF data from Artax 1 Alloy: Leaded Bronze Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead Other Elements: iron K. Eremin, January 2014

The patina is an even green with small areas of underlying red exposed. There are no losses from this component of the original object. The surface is well preserved. The handle is mostly solid; only the head and front portion of the lion are hollow. Red core material fills this cavity and is visible at a large opening where the handle meets the rim of the vessel. It is likely that an indirect lost-wax process was used to cast the wax model and that the details in the face and all of the incised lines were worked directly in the wax. A ridge at the sides of the lines indicates work with a point in wax. The long, wire-like tail was probably formed directly in wax and added to the cast wax model of the body. Fine file marks on many areas of the surface are the only likely cold work. Henry Lie (submitted 2005)