Abstract
IN Nature of May 28, p. 676, reference is made to a nielloed silver cup of 1400 B.C. from Enkomi, Cyprus. To encounter a nielloed article of such an early date would indeed be a discovery of importance, since, so far as we are aware, no one has proved the use of niello as a means of decoration before the second century A.D. (ref. 1). There is, however, no evidence for the presence of niello on this cup, as we were able to demonstrate at the time the cup was being restored. The paper dealing with this2 shows clearly that the only basis the author had for assuming the powdery material surrounding the gold ornamentation to be niello was that it was black.
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References
Moss, A. A., J. Int. Inst. Preserv. Museum Objects, 1, 49 (1953).
Plenderleith, H. J., technical report in C. F. A. Schaeffer's “Enkomi-Alasia”, 381 (Paris, 1952).
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CLARINGBULL, G., MOSS, A. The Enkomi Silver Cup. Nature 187, 1051–1052 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/1871051a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1871051a0
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