“330. WORKING IN METAL—1 KINGS 7:13-51”

Working in Metal—1Ki_7:13-51

Some have thought that the covering of the interior of Solomon’s temple with gold was simply gilding, which, from the extraordinary ductility of gold, would have been a comparatively inexpensive operation. The only objection is, that it would have been too little expensive. It is expressly stated that six hundred talents, or 75,000 pounds troy, of gold were consumed in this overlaying, which shows that it was not laid on very thinly—indeed any reader, whose taste lies in that direction, may calculate how thickly the gold was spread, for he knows the space required to be covered. The phrase in 1Ki_6:35, that “the gold was fitted upon the carved work,” agrees also with overlaying better than with gilding. Besides, we have no right to lower the magnificent terms of description and wealth in the sacred narrative to this extent, bringing the whole down to a piece of gilding. The considerations advanced at the close of yesterday’s illustration show that the economical use of the metal could have been no object.

Apart from this view of the case, we should have preferred the gilding to the overlaying—at least in those parts in which the gold covered figures and ornaments carved in wood. The sharpness and delicacy of the carving would also have been certainly better seen through the gilding than through a layer of metal. It would seem that the art of chasing in simple gold was not practised upon any large scale, or was not judged expedient in this case. It was rather chosen to carve the wood, and to force the overlaid gold into the shape of the carvings—the surface of the gold being probably touched up with graving tools to bring out the sharpness of the carving. Unless this had been the process, it would have been absurd to carve the wood at all, seeing that it was afterwards to be covered with gold. But that the carved wood was to form the base of the encasement explains all; and although economy was not the object, the process was more economical than a surface encasement in solid gold; and if left hollow inside, the raised parts would have been more liable to injury than when backed, and the hollows filled by the wooden carvings behind. This was, perhaps, the principal object of these carvings.

Of the existence of the art of overlaying with gold, from the most ancient times, in Egypt, the most satisfactory evidence is furnished by the actual remains of overlaid work, which is by no means of infrequent occurrence. We might also point to the overlaying with gold in some of the works of the tabernacle, such as the ark and altar of incense, by the Israelites, immediately on their departure from Egypt. Among the examples of this work derived from that country, there is in the British Museum a small figure of the god Amun, in silver, having the head-dress and the lower part of the body represented by plates of gold laid over the silver.

Figure of God Amun in Silver, overlaid with Gold

There is also, in the same collection, the finger of a mummy overlaid with silver. A few years ago, a mummy was found in the necropolis of Thebes, entirely wrapped in plates of gold. It was unfortunately broken up by the Arabs, on its discovery, for the sake of the metal; and the only remnant of it is a signet-ring bearing the name of Pharaoh-Moeris. There are, likewise, in the Museum of the Louvre several small female figures in wood, of exquisitely beautiful workmanship, having the hair and parts of the dress represented by plates of gold or silver overlaid. In one of the tombs at Beni-Hassan there is indeed found what appears to be a representation of the very operation of overlaying.

Egyptian Operations in Metals: Gold-Giver issues Gold to Craftsman

We see a kind of press or chest, inscribed “the gold chest.” The person engaged with it as called “the giver out of the gold.” He hands out to the workmen bars of gold, or more probably thin slips of gold-latten, which they are fixing by strong manual pressure, without any apparent aid from tools, upon a block, bearing some general resemblance to an ark or sacred chest. The hieroglyphic inscription over their heads signifies “fixing,” or “fastening on.” It is very clear that the representation is that of overlaying with gold, though the details of the process cannot be clearly made out.

Egyptian Operations in Metals

Much is said of the casting of metal by Hiram—particularly as regards the casting of the great brazen laver, with the oxen on which it rested, and, of the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz. The former, at least, seems, as a work of art, to have been worthy of all the praise it drew forth, and clearly evinces the perfection to which this branch of metallurgic art had been carried. The basin, and the oxen on which it was to rest, were, we should suppose, cast separately. It was cast on the plain of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zaratan, for which, considering the distance, and the difficulty of the road for the subsequent conveyance of the work to Jerusalem, there must have been some potent reason; which is furnished by the fact that it was a “clay ground,” and therefore suited to these extensive operations in the casting of metals.

There are paintings in one of the tombs of Thebes which throw light on this operation also. One group represents the blowing up of the furnace, preparatory to melting the metal. A workman on each side of the fire is working the double bellows, an implement similar in principle to that now in use, but very different in construction. It consisted of two boards, connected by a leathern collar. Each man stands with his feet on two such bellows, and holds in each hand a cord fastened to their upper boards. He works them with a seesaw motion, pressing down one of them with his foot, and at the same time inflating the other by raising the upper board with the opposite hand. They communicate with the fire by means of reeds coated with clay at the end next the fire. A third workman at the same time stirs the fire; and behind them is a heap of fuel, and a vessel containing the metal to be fused.

Egyptian Operations in Metals: Working Bellows

Egyptian Operations in Metals: Fusing Metals

A second picture exhibits a further stage of the process. The metal is in a state of fusion, and the workmen have left the bellows, and are removing the crucible from the fire by means of two rods or thick wires, the ends of which are coated with clay. This mode of removing the crucible would require great caution and dexterity on the part of the workman, as was the case with all the operations of ancient art.

A third picture carries the operation still further. It represents the rough exterior of a large mould of baked clay, with a row of many earthen funnels at the top of it, into all of which the fused metal was poured successively, for the purpose of diffusing it equally over the entire internal surface. Two workmen are depicted in the act of pouring metal into one of them. In founding large casts, the metal is poured into many apertures by the Arab workmen at the present day. The objection that, by this piecemeal application, a part would cool in the mould before the remainder could be introduced, is met by a third figure, who is emptying fuel, apparently charcoal, from a basket, for the purpose of kindling a fire around the mold, in order to keep it at a high temperature for some time after it has received the metal. This process greatly improves both the delicacy and beauty of the cast, and the temper of the metal. It is used for bronze-castings in China, and is said to be one of the causes of their great superiority over those of European artists.

Egyptian Operations in Metals: Filling Molds

It is not said that any of the works were of “beaten gold,” or other metal. Yet neither is it said that any was “cast,” or founded, except the brazen sea, the lavers, and the pillars—all of which were of brass. All the rest is said simply to have been “made;” and probably all was beaten, only those larger works being cast. The golden candelabrum of the tabernacle was, we know, of beaten gold; and no doubt the ten candelabra of Solomon were similarly constructed. But although this is not distinctly stated, it is, from the nature of things, almost as certain as if it were. Indeed, at a much later period, the ancients seem only to have resorted to casting when the work was too large to be conveniently executed by any other process. And that this common mode of operation was in use at least in the time of Solomon, in application to works that admitted of it, incidentally transpires in the statement, that the shields and targets subsequently made for this magnificent king were of “beaten gold.” We conceive that, with the known exceptions, all the vessels and utensils of the temple were thus made; and, indeed, what was the overlaying of the interior of the temple but an application of beaten gold?

Egyptian Operations in Metals: Beaten Gold

Of this process there is also a representation in the same tomb at Beni-Hassan which exhibits the overlaying. It represents a workman engaged in the fabrication of a brazen vessel, something like a crock. The process is the same as that in use at the present day—the man places the material on an anvil, and shapes it with a hammer. It almost passes belief, however, but is the fact, that the hammer has no handle—the workman holding in his hand the piece of metal with which he operates. Mr. Osburn well remarks on this—“The jar occasioned to the nerves of the hand by this violent contact of metal with metal, without the interposition of a wooden handle or other deadening substance, would be intolerable to a modern workman, or if he had resolution to persevere, would probably bring on tetanus. Long practice, from an early age, had habituated the robust frames of the ancient mechanics to these rude concussions.” We might also indicate the loss of power in the strokes by the absence of the lever which the handle furnishes. This matter seems so strange, that we have looked through copies of Egyptian figures engaged in various arts, as we find them in different works, and have been unable to find a handled hammer in any of them. Accompanying the hammerer are two figures engaged upon the process of heating some object in metal which they are manufacturing. The one blows up the charcoal fire with a blow-pipe, while the other holds the metal to the flame. The application of beating to the fabrication of many delicate and elaborate works in gold, is shown abundantly in the Egyptian tombs. The tools employed seem to have been small pieces of metal, like chisels of various shapes, held in the hand, and struck upon the gold to produce the required pattern. Notwithstanding that the lack of mechanical means which modern workmen possess, rendered the tax upon the skill, precision, and patience of the individual workman very great, very beautiful works were completed by the goldsmiths of ancient Egypt, as some existing remains of them testify, and as is still more completely evinced by the richly ornamented and elegant vases represented in the tombs of the kings and elsewhere.

Autor: JOHN KITTO