DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4862#0096
THE WORKSHOPS
which is being engraved by a bald-headed craftsman a little farther on.
The outline, however, is not quite the same, and in addition the larger
vessel is furnished with a ring-support of the usual shape.1 A smaller
vase also is being shaped by hammer work on a slanting anvil. Two
stands for lamps or vessels, and a vase for lustration, with its dish,
have already been made. The bull's head is probably also made of sheet-
metal. No relative proportions seem to be maintained in depicting the
various objects (Plate XXV).
In the next group, a smith is preparing to do the soldering or braz-
ing necessary. He is perhaps working in a metal with a high melting
point, for he is using a furnace fed with a blast from a pair of bellows
worked by the feet of a companion. It consists of two collapsible
frames placed in the sand, from each of which a reed pipe, furnished
with a clay mouthpiece (white), leads into the bottom of the fire.2 The
frame is covered with stretched leather, fitted with valves (or perhaps
only with holes which the operator can cover with his feet). These
bellows being full of air, he steps on one of them and so forces the air
into the fire. As it exhausts he leans his weight entirely on the other,
at the same time pulling up the depressed leather of the empty one by
means of a string. Thus the one is filled as the other empties, and by
"marking time" on the pair a continuous blast through the fire can be
maintained. "Good speed to thy hand!" or some such cheerful impu-
dence, cries the assistant, as he pursues his tiring treadmill motion.3
The smith has let his hair grow long, so that it falls over his ears; the
frequency of this slovenly habit is revealed by the unflattering realism
of later artists.
In the following tableau two younger men have lifted a crucible
containing molten metal off an unseen fire by means of two fresh
withes (?), which grip it without being consumed. Owing to the long
1 This foot is common to nearly all the metal vases and probably in many cases is a separate piece.
When objects run in pairs in these scenes, one is generally of gold and one of silver, whether as specimen
piece or for ritual reasons.
2 In Tomb 181 the furnace is colored red below for the glow, black above for the coals. See also
Loret, Mission Francaise, I, PL I, where the operation is described as the founding of jam gold.
3 The phrase will be found again in Vol. II, p. 17.
73
Hammering
out vases on
the anvil
The blast
furnace
The moulding
box
which is being engraved by a bald-headed craftsman a little farther on.
The outline, however, is not quite the same, and in addition the larger
vessel is furnished with a ring-support of the usual shape.1 A smaller
vase also is being shaped by hammer work on a slanting anvil. Two
stands for lamps or vessels, and a vase for lustration, with its dish,
have already been made. The bull's head is probably also made of sheet-
metal. No relative proportions seem to be maintained in depicting the
various objects (Plate XXV).
In the next group, a smith is preparing to do the soldering or braz-
ing necessary. He is perhaps working in a metal with a high melting
point, for he is using a furnace fed with a blast from a pair of bellows
worked by the feet of a companion. It consists of two collapsible
frames placed in the sand, from each of which a reed pipe, furnished
with a clay mouthpiece (white), leads into the bottom of the fire.2 The
frame is covered with stretched leather, fitted with valves (or perhaps
only with holes which the operator can cover with his feet). These
bellows being full of air, he steps on one of them and so forces the air
into the fire. As it exhausts he leans his weight entirely on the other,
at the same time pulling up the depressed leather of the empty one by
means of a string. Thus the one is filled as the other empties, and by
"marking time" on the pair a continuous blast through the fire can be
maintained. "Good speed to thy hand!" or some such cheerful impu-
dence, cries the assistant, as he pursues his tiring treadmill motion.3
The smith has let his hair grow long, so that it falls over his ears; the
frequency of this slovenly habit is revealed by the unflattering realism
of later artists.
In the following tableau two younger men have lifted a crucible
containing molten metal off an unseen fire by means of two fresh
withes (?), which grip it without being consumed. Owing to the long
1 This foot is common to nearly all the metal vases and probably in many cases is a separate piece.
When objects run in pairs in these scenes, one is generally of gold and one of silver, whether as specimen
piece or for ritual reasons.
2 In Tomb 181 the furnace is colored red below for the glow, black above for the coals. See also
Loret, Mission Francaise, I, PL I, where the operation is described as the founding of jam gold.
3 The phrase will be found again in Vol. II, p. 17.
73
Hammering
out vases on
the anvil
The blast
furnace
The moulding
box