Letter from Plenderleith to Schaeffer answering his various requests and his technical report on the sectionHarold James Plenderleith

XIV and XV.

"The Royal Tombs at Dendra near Midea" by A. W. Persson, 1931, Plates I, XII, XIII,

*** Theophilus "Diversarum Artium Schedula". ** Excavations at Enkomi, by A. S. Murray, 1896, p. 17/18, Fig. 34. * Excavations in Cyprus, A.S.Murray, A.H.Smith, H.B. Walters, 1900, Section I

the present case. detected either for or against the existence of a similar enclosure in close parallel was provided with a thin gold lining. No evidence could be The cup from Dendra to which this from Enkomi is much a

***

of decoration. rubbing down in order to even out irregularities in the complicated scheme whatever technique was employed, the final treatment took the form of The micro-structure of the surface of the cup suggests that

fixing. the cup to hold them in position before packing with niello powder and pattern sometimes had no niello behind them and may have been pinned to Conversely, gold strips from the rim occur in both methods of working. inlays but this was considered valueless as evidence because it tended to frequently happened that niello was found fixed to the back of loose gold chamfered, the setting being always with the chamfer on the outside. It had been cut either with a flat or curved chisel leaving the gold Detached fragments of gold were of fairly uniform thickness (max. and min. of twenty measurements .005 - .0075 inch). The edges

(0.15 - 0.4 mm.)

Handwritten: Ashmole

Handwritten: Enamel fixed in niello / cloisonné filled with niello powder (gold) and gold hand-set in surface

Handwritten: 1 / 2 / 3 — cross-section sketch of cloisonné wire with gold foil

which would retain it, just as in modern practice enamel still retain gold foil or aluminium. by pressing it into the compacted niello powder and then fixing the niello, explanation is less likely to be correct than that the gold was fixed no steel tools were available at this time and conclude that this such a pattern could be carved in the niello we must bear in mind that of a pattern being chased upon it. Furthermore, if we consider whether and applied in powder form and such a brittle material would not allow In good niello is a certain brittleness as the substance has to be ground

a Lunak {hw}