Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/83

Rh METAL-WORK 73 vent the punch from breaking the metal into holes. The pitch was then melted away from the front of the embossed relief, and applied in a similar way to the back, so that the modelling could be completed on the face of the relief, the final touches being given by the graver. This process was chiefly applied by mediaeval artists to the precious metals, but by the Assyrians, Greeks, and other early nations it was largely used for bronze. The great gates of Shalmaneser II., 859-824 B.C., from Balawat, now in the British Museum, are a remarkable example of this sort of work on a large scale, though the treatment of the reliefs is minute and delicate. The &quot; Siris bronzes,&quot; in the same museum, are a most astonishing example of the skill attained by Greek artists in this repousse work (see Bri msted s Bronzes of Sins, 1836). They are a pair of shoulder-pieces from a suit of bronze armour, and each has in very high relief a combat between a Greek warrior and an Amazon. No work of art in metal has probably ever surpassed these little figures for beauty, vigour, and expression, while the skill with which the artist has beaten these high reliefs out of a flat plate of metal appears almost miraculous. The heads of the figures are nearly detached from the ground, their sub stance is little thicker than paper, and yet in no place has the metal been broken through by the punch. They are probably of the school of Praxiteles, and date from the 4th century B.C. (see fig. 2). Fio. 2. One of the Siris Bronzes. Copper and tin have been but little used separately. Copper in its pure state may be worked by the same methods as bronze, but it is inferior to it in hardness strength, and beauty of surface. Tin is too weak and brittle a metal to be employed alone for any but small objects. Some considerable number of tin drinking-cups and bowls of the Celtic period have been found in Corn wall in the neighbourhood of the celebrated tin and copper mines, which appear to have been worked from a very early period. The existence of these mines was known to the Phoenicians, who carried on a considerable trade in metals with the south-west corner of England and the Scilly Isles probably the Cassiterides of Pliny and other classical writers. The use of lead has been more extended. In sheets it forms the best of all coverings for roofs and even spires. In the lloman and mediaeval periods it was largely used for coffins, which were often richly ornamented with cast work in relief. Though fusible at a very low temperature, and very soft, it has great power of resisting decay from damp or exposure. Its most important use in an artistic form has been in the shape of baptismal fonts, chiefly between the llth and the 14th centuries. The superior beauty of colour and durability of old specimens of lead is owing to the natural presence of a small proportion of silver. Modern smelters carefully extract this silver from the lead ore, thereby greatly impairing the durability and beauty of the metal. As in almost all the arts, the ancient Egyptians excelled in their metal-work, especially in the use of bronze and the precious metals. These were worked by casting and hammering, and ornamented by inlay, gilding, and enamels with the greatest possible skill. From Egypt perhaps was derived the early skill of the Hebrews. Further instruction in the art of metal-working came probably to the Jews from the neighbouring country of Tyre. The description of the great gold lions of Solomon s throne, and the laver of cast bronze supported on figures of oxen, shows that the artificers of that time had overcome the difficulties of metal-working and founding on a large scale. The Assyrians were perhaps the most remarkable of all ancient nations for the colossal size and splendour of their works in metal ; whole circuit walls of great cities, such as Ecbatana, are said to have been covered with metal plates, gilt or silvered. Herodotus, Athenreus, and other Greek and Roman writers have recorded the enormous number of colossal statues and other works of art for which Babylon and Nineveh were so famed. The numerous objects of bronze and other metals brought to light by the excavations of the last forty years in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, though mostly on a small scale, bear witness to the great skill and artistic power of the people who produced them ; while the recent discovery of some bronze statuettes, shown by inscriptions on them to be not later than 2200 B.C., proves how early was the development of this branch of art among the people of Assyria. The Metal-Work of Greece. The poems of Homer are full of descriptions of elaborate works in bronze, iron, gold, and silver, which, even when full allowance is made for poetic fancy, show clearly enough a very advanced amount of skill in the working and ornamenting of these meta among the Greeks of his time. His description of the shield of Achilles, made of bronze, enriched with bands of figure reliefs in gold, silver, and tin, could hardly have been written by a man who had not some personal acquaintance with works in metal of a very elaborate kind. A&amp;lt;-ain the accuracy of his descriptions of brazen houses- such as that of Alcinous, Od. vii. 81 -is borne witness to by Pausanias s mention of the bronze temple of Athena XaWoiKos in Sparta, and the bronze chamber dedicated to Myron in 648 B.C., as well as by the discovery of the stains and bronze nails, which show that the whole interior of the so-called treasury of Atreus at Mycenae was once XVI. 10