cC2RMF, Palais du Louvre, 14 quai François Mitterrand, 75001 Paris, France
Received 31 July 2007; accepted 28 March 2008. Available online 13 March 2009.
quote: Abstract At the instigation of the Musée du Louvre's Department of Egyptian Antiquities, an intensive programme to study black bronze has been carried out at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France. Systematic research has been undertaken on the museum's collection to identify objects that might have an intentional black patina.
The same experimental protocol has been applied to all the objects, alllowing this study to be one of the most important coherent investigation on this type of bronze decoration. It involves the use of non-invasive analytical methods in order to obtain the maximum amount of information possible about the chemical nature and structure of the surface layer. The protocol makes it possible to compare objects and to propose an interpretation of how this decorative technique evolved during the Egyptian period.
Based on previous stylistic investigations (by J. Cooney, 1966) and personal observation, sixteen objects dating from the Middle Kingdom to the Late Period were selected. Thanks to elemental analyses, twelve of them were identified as being intentionally patinated. Only ten of these could be described as hmty-km, because the base patinated alloy contains small amounts of gold and/or silver and the black patina is made up mainly of cuprous oxide Cu2O (cuprite). Among the four other objects, one patina is very close to the black bronze patina, but contains neither gold nor silver. Three other pieces have an unusual patina. A lack of other comparable examples makes it very difficult to determine whether the patinas are of ancient origin
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"Hmty-Km" - Well, it appears to be just yet another element that goes with that theme of 'km', which has been much talk of this site; the authors appropriately interpret the term as the equivalent of 'black'. You know, they could have taken the other route, which some passionately insist on, 'the black soil' school of thought, and read it like: "the black soil- copper" rather than "black copper". I take it this word was picked up from objects under study, or other primary references of it eleswhere?
Interesting observation, i.e. that inference made from chemical composition, about the "intentional" patination. How does this "intentional patination" strike you? Any cosmological link to its condition of being black [e.g. part of that theme of 'things black signifying reverence'], perhaps?
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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The term hmty-km is attested since at least the new kingdom. The usual foolishness accompany European interpretations of the "km" part of this compound word. Your playful coinage of "black soil- copper" is not too far off the mark. One "Harris" in 1961 gave a reading of hmty-km as "unpurified copper".
As an FYI the term hmty apparently came to mean both copper and bronze.
On the cosmological level, BLACK definitely reverberates through ancient Egypt as a term of exaltation and reverence. The above strengthens this conclusion which we've often discussed here.
Attached is a fine example of hmty-km artwork. Karomama earthly wife of Amun:
Posts: 1038 | From: Franklin Park, NJ | Registered: Aug 2005
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Has there ever been any dispute over the meaning of "km" though, as opposed to Km't, with emphasis on the 't suffix which determines the context (hence, their association of Black with soil when such is added)?
-------------------- mr.writer.asa@gmail.com Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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Km is essentially the same thing as "Km't". In ancient Egyptian, they have this grammatical feature of musculine and feminine. The 't' in "km.t' does not alter the meaning of 'km', other than that it is a feminine conjugation of 'km'.
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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