Cast Lead 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LEADEN 
FIGURES 
nish, with which grind your 
ochre, but the red lead grind 
with oil; temper them both 
together; lay your ground with 
this upon the lead, and when 
it is almost dry, lay your gold; 
let it be thoroughly dry be¬ 
fore you polish it.” 
For another ground: “Take 
varnish of linseed oil, red lead, 
white lead and turpentine; 
boil in a pipkin and grind to¬ 
gether on a stone.” 
“ Or take sheets ot tinfoil, 
and grind them in common 
gold size; with this wipe your 
pewter or lead over; lay on 
your leaf gold and press it 
with cotton; it is a fine gild¬ 
ing, and has a beautiful lustre.” 
Soon after the medieval 
plombiers had compassed the 
art of roofing they took to 
making ornaments of their 
sheet lead. The development 
ot a round figure, such as 
a leaf of trefoil, was traced 
upon a sheet “in the fiat.” 
It was then cut to the re¬ 
quired outline, curved to 
the proper shape and the 
joints sealed. A gilding of 
“Dutch metal” was then 
otten applied on a ground 
of varnish and red lead, as 
in the second recipe. 
Traces which still exist of 
the ornament upon the 
spire at Chalons-sur- 
Marne show that the en¬ 
tire surface was decorated 
by means of lines cut upon 
it and filled with a mastic 
black material. Much of 
the plumbage of the Mid¬ 
dle Ages was decorated by 
means of painting applied 
to the metal by means of 
a very strong mordant. 
The English architect, 
Burgess, whose work may 
A LEADEN VASE AT HAMP¬ 
TON COURT 
IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT 
MUSEUM, LONDON 
be seen at the Architectural 
Museum, Westminster, Lon¬ 
don, demonstrated the process 
of tinning lead with solder in 
order to obtain the effect of 
silver. “The surface is 
coated with lampblack mixed 
with size; the pattern is either 
transferred on it or drawn di¬ 
rect and then marked around 
with a point; all the part to be 
tinned has the surface re¬ 
moved by a ‘shave hook,’ so 
as to leave the pattern quite 
bright; a little sweet oil is 
rubbed over this and the solder 
is applied and spread in the 
usual way of soldering with 
a copper bit.” 
The acme of their art was 
reached when the plombiers 
fashioned statues of human 
figures by beating sheets of 
lead over wooden forms or 
models. These forms were 
36 
