Page 158 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

This bronze vase was cast as an integral unit. Those few areas that
have lost their inlay reveal that at least some of the low-relief surfaces
were cold worked after casting to prepare them to receive the sheet-silver
inlays. Since most of the inlays are still intact, the extent of the cold work
remains uncertain; chisel marks along the insides of the thread-relief borders
around the inlays suggest that most of the surfaces destined to receive
inlays were at least minimally cold worked. The vase's dark brown hue was
apparently achieved through chemical treatments after the completion of
the cold work but before the inlays were fitted into place and the gilding
applied. The almost complete disappearance of the gilding may have
resulted only from wear but it might also have to do with the application
of the gold to a chemically altered surface. The gilding was no doubt
achieved through the mercury-amalgam process that was standard until
replaced by electroplating in the twentieth century.

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