08-19-2018, 10:00 AM
Hi Anatol,
the bronzes you see in art galleries and museums are given a patina using sprayers and paintbrushes. I have seen a video of the workers in Auguste Rodin's foundry doing that, and here is how a modern foundry does it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhDDOXhCml8 I don't know of any evidence of this before the 19th century.
Modern bronze and copper left outdoors acquires a patina because rain drops on it and birds poop on it and the owners are too cheap to polish it regularly.
But ancient arms and armour were stored somewhere clean and dry inside, and on campaign they had wicker baskets or leather cases to protect their equipment from the weather. They sometimes painted designs on bronze, but I don't know any evidence for bronze being deliberately given a green-brown patina, whereas there are dozens of sources from the Iliad and Alcaeus onwards talking about how important it was for bronze helmets to shine like the gods! Polishing bronze is not a lot of work, you just need a rag, some dust, and some water, and in a world where grain is ground by hand, polishing a helmet (or saying "boy, go polish my helmet before dinner.") is nothing.
So old bronze would not be likely to have a patina, unless it was nailed to a wall as a trophy: polishing it up would have been just part of getting it back into service, like replacing the leather parts and deciding whether it was so old-fashioned that you needed to have a bronzeworker reshape it to look more like what the kaloi k'agathoi are wearing. I polish my bronze swords for a few minutes every few years, it is not a big deal.
Tinning gives bronze a different shiny look, and reduces the need to polish. The same with gilt bronze armour like the Persian helmet from Olympia or the Chalcidian helmet from Haifa Bay.
the bronzes you see in art galleries and museums are given a patina using sprayers and paintbrushes. I have seen a video of the workers in Auguste Rodin's foundry doing that, and here is how a modern foundry does it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhDDOXhCml8 I don't know of any evidence of this before the 19th century.
Modern bronze and copper left outdoors acquires a patina because rain drops on it and birds poop on it and the owners are too cheap to polish it regularly.
But ancient arms and armour were stored somewhere clean and dry inside, and on campaign they had wicker baskets or leather cases to protect their equipment from the weather. They sometimes painted designs on bronze, but I don't know any evidence for bronze being deliberately given a green-brown patina, whereas there are dozens of sources from the Iliad and Alcaeus onwards talking about how important it was for bronze helmets to shine like the gods! Polishing bronze is not a lot of work, you just need a rag, some dust, and some water, and in a world where grain is ground by hand, polishing a helmet (or saying "boy, go polish my helmet before dinner.") is nothing.
So old bronze would not be likely to have a patina, unless it was nailed to a wall as a trophy: polishing it up would have been just part of getting it back into service, like replacing the leather parts and deciding whether it was so old-fashioned that you needed to have a bronzeworker reshape it to look more like what the kaloi k'agathoi are wearing. I polish my bronze swords for a few minutes every few years, it is not a big deal.
Tinning gives bronze a different shiny look, and reduces the need to polish. The same with gilt bronze armour like the Persian helmet from Olympia or the Chalcidian helmet from Haifa Bay.
Nullis in verba
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
