Technical features of a ninth-century silver vessel of southern China uncovered from Famen Monastery, Shaanxi province

Heritage Science

Table 1 p-XRF spectroscopy results of the partially-gilded silver box

Analysis zone		Analysis mode	Composition (wt. %)
Analysis zone			Ag	Au	Cu	Hg	Fe	Pb	Ir	Zn
Back of box lid (no gilding)	Micro-area	Precious alloy	97.5	1.1	0.8			0.6
Bottom of box body (no gilding)	Micro-area	Precious alloy	99.4		0.2		0.3		0.1
	Micro-area	Precious alloy	99.5		0.2		0.1		0.2
	Micro-area	Precious alloy	98.8		0.4		0.6		0.2
Ring foot	Micro-area	Precious alloy	97.0	1.3	0.8		0.4		0.5
	Micro-area	Precious alloy	97.0	1.3	0.8		0.4		0.5
Joining area (box body + ring foot)	Micro-area	Standard alloy	68.7	0.2	28.4			0.1		2.5
Gilt layer (box lid)	Micro-area	Electronic alloy	57.1	36.7		6.2
	Micro-area	Electronic alloy	61.8	32.0		6.2
	Micro-area	Electronic alloy	59.6	33.5		6.9
	Micro-area	Electronic alloy	62.6	31.6		5.8
Gilt layer (box body)	Micro-area	Electronic alloy	61.6	31.9		6.2	0.3
	Micro-area	Electronic alloy	60.4	32.7		6.9