Amalgam tinning of Chinese bronze antiquities

This paper investigates the question whether or not amalgam tinning was use d for the plating of bronze objects in pre-Han and Han dynasty China. The r elevant literary sources are reviewed and amalgam tinning is characterized experimentally with regard to its microstructure and residual mercury conte nt using metallography and electron microprobe analysis. Examination of a t inning sample from a Warring States dagger previously assumed to be amalgam tinned demonstrates that this was probably not the case, but that a trace of mercury found in the plating is likely to be the result of contamination .