Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:39:38.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Investigation and Replication of the Surface Microstructure of Early Chinese Black Bronzemirrors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Michelle Taube ,
W. Thomas Chase ,
Alison J. Davenport  and
A. Peter Jardine
Michelle Taube
Affiliation:
University at Stony Brook, Department of Materials Science, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2275 Brookhaven National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Building 480, P. 0. Box 5000, Upton, NY 11973-5000
W. Thomas Chase
Affiliation:
Freer Gallery of Art, Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560
Alison J. Davenport
Affiliation:
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Building 480, P. 0. Box 5000, Upton, NY 11973-5000
A. Peter Jardine
Affiliation:
University at Stony Brook, Department of Materials Science, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2275
Get access

Abstract

Many ancient Chinese bronze mirrors have survived with their original surface decorationsintact, particularly those with “glassy” black surface coatings. The microstructures and compositions of cross-sectional samples from ancient mirrors have been analyzed with optical and electron microscopy and synchrotron x-ray fluorescence. The core has a two-phase metal structure while the surface shows evidence of selective dissolution of copper from the α (Curich) phase. The ci phase regions are replaced pseudomorphically by a mineral product with the δ (Sn-rich) phase remaining metallic. A fundamental study of the electrochemistry of the copper-tin system has given information on theconditions under which selective dissolution of copper takes place. Electrochemical polarization has been used to drive the copper dealloying process in cast high-tin bronze. Theresulting microstructure is similar to the dealloyed microstructure observed in the ancient samples.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 215
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Gettens, R.J., Technical Studies in the Field of Fine Arts III(1), 29–37 (1934); Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum 11(1), 16-26 (1949).Google Scholar
2. Chase, W.T., and Franklin, U.M., Ars Orientalis XI, 215–258 (1979).Google Scholar
3. Gettens, R.J. in Art and Technology; A Symposium on Classical Bronzes, edited by Doeringer, Suzannah (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1970), pp. 57–72.Google Scholar
4. Soto, L., Franey, J.P., Graedel, T.E., and Kammlott, G.W., Corros. Sci. 23(3), 241–250 (1983).Google Scholar
5. Chen, Y.-Y., Huang, Y.-L., Yang, Y.-N., Chen, H., Kaogu (Archaeology) 1987(2), 175–178.Google Scholar
6. Yao, C. and Wang, K., Corros. Australasia 12(5), 5-7,11 (1987).Google Scholar
7. Sun, S., Ma, Z., Jin, L., Han, R., Ko, T. (unpublished translation).Google Scholar
8. Zhu, S. and He, T. in Metal Plating and Patination - Cultural, Technical and Historical Developments, edited by Niece, S. La and Craddock, P. (Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd., Oxford, 1993), pp. 50–62.Google Scholar
9. Meeks, N., in Metal Plating and Patination - Cultural, Technical and Historical Developments, edited by Niece, S. La and Craddock, P. (Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd., Oxford, 1993), pp. 63–84.Google Scholar
10. Gettens, R.J., The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Vol. II, Technical Studies, (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1969), pp. 186–191.Google Scholar
11. Pourbaix, M., Atlas of Electrochemical Equilibria in Aqueous Solutions, (National Association of Corrosion Engineers, Houston, TX, 1974), p. 384ff; p. 475ff.Google Scholar