Vintage 1960s Bronze Statue The Grape Picker Sculpture

Vintage Bronze Statue The Grape Picker Sculpture
H 14in
Bronze sculpture of a young boy traveling with a basket
estimated era 1960s

There are many different bronze alloys. Typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin.[4] Alpha bronze consists of the alpha solid solution of tin in copper. Alpha bronze alloys of 4–5% tin are used to make coins and a number of mechanical applications. Historical bronzes are highly variable in composition, as most metalworkers probably used whatever scrap was on hand; the metal of the 12th-century English Gloucester Candlestick is bronze containing a mixture of copper, zinc, tin, lead, nickel, iron, antimony, arsenic with an unusually large amount of silver – between 22.5% in the base and 5.76% in the pan below the candle. The proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The Benin Bronzes are really brass, and the Romanesque Baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège is described as both bronze and brass.
In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were commonly used: inclassic bronzein, about 10% tin, was used in casting; and inmild bronzein, about 6% tin, was hammered from ingots to make sheets. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from classic bronze, while helmets and armour were hammered from mild bronze. According to one definition, modern instatuary bronzein is 90% copper and 10% tin.