Letter from Plenderleith to Schaeffer on corrections to the technical report on the bull bowlHarold James Plenderleith

THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, W.C.1 Department of Research Laboratory

TELEPHONE: Museum 8621 22nd April, 1952.

Faint printed/typed text at top, partly illegible: "...called ... conservation ... of which I am the Hon. Treasurer. The article would be published in about a year's time."

Handwritten: illegible faint handwritten or ghosted lines above salutation

Dear Dr. Schaeffer,

I recently initiated in the Laboratory a course of study on Niello (a subject which has never been fully investigated), and data obtained from some of our experiments has obliged me to make a re-examination of the Enkomi Cup. In the light of this new enquiry I regret to say that the text of my contribution in so far as it concerns "Technique" will have to be modified and I hope that in the interests of truth and clarity you will find it possible to make the necessary arrangements with the publishers.

Attached is a new section on "Technique" to take the place of Pages 387 - 389 in your proof and two new diagrams in substitution for your Figs. 119 and 122. I also find it necessary to add the following two Footnotes at the bottom of Page 383.

Handwritten: and photograph of gold spots to replace Fig 121 on P.387

First Footnote, Line 2,to the word "niello" "Copper, silver and sulphur are essential constituents of niello but the presence of sulphur is not revealed by the spectrograph."

Second Footnote, Line 8, to "green incrustation referred to above" "This explanation is probably not enough to account for the heavy green incrustation but the photographs taken during excavation do not show any corroding copper in contact with the cup."

I am also enclosing the outline of a theory I have concerning the niello on the cup which is, of course, too specialized for the paper but which, if you have no objection, I propose developing into a technical account for the new publication of the International Institute for the Conservation … continues