Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.t5.15

v1.c28.s8.t5.15

Lo Bue (1981a: 47-48, 50-51 and 65-66) explained in great detail that li was a general term in Tibet for copper alloys. White *li* or high (around 25 %) zinc brass was the constituent of many icons such as No. 10 with strong Magadha influence. He quoted *Padma-dkar-po* (1973 reprint of *Collected Works*, Darjeeling) writing on “images of Magadha made out of white *li*, of indisputable quality with plump face and a great share of grace, with perfect copper lips and silver eyes”. Béguin (1977: 11-12 and 70) indentified No. 10 as a replica of an original Indian Umā-Maheśvara icon. It is quite possible that the Pāla artistes introduced in the ninth century AD. Tibet this tradition of brass icon (24-28 % zinc, rest copper) inlaid with copper and silver. Samples such as Nos. 2, 4 and 7 contain 11-15 per cent zinc and may be called, in Tibetan terminology, yellow *li*; the bulk of the icons however contained 25-32 per cent zinc (white *li*). Still higher percentages of zinc are noted in the icons produced after the twelfth century AD e.g. sixteenth century AD. Maitreya analysing 40.7 per cent zinc. (Craddock, 1981: 29, sample 98)