Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.t2.6

v1.c28.s8.t2.6

Werner (1965) undertook the job of spectro-chemical analysis of 72 Indian bronzes, many of them belonging to the modern era and ‘greater’ India including Java, Burma etc. He was surprised to find that two Kashmir images (Nos. 3 and 4 in Table 20.7) belonging to seventh-eighth century AD were made of brass and concluded that the brass used for these icons was of ‘non-Indian origin’. He further commented that all Indian bronzes containing larger percentages of zinc (apart from the ‘imported’ Kashmir samples) were of modern origin. We have discussed how Swarnakamal (1980: 137-38) followed the erroneous conclusion of Werner, and landed himself into grievous errors regarding the dates of brass icons from Gujarat.