Some ancient texts, such as the recipes of the Greek Alchemists, the Papyrus of Leyden, the Papyrus of Stockholm and later translations of the Greek alchemistic texts seem to refer to the various alloys employed for the objects. The copper-based alloys on the diverse artifacts show black, red, orange and yellow patinations. This paper discusses the alloys and technical details of the various objects. They are too marked to be casual and seem to indicate that the pieces belong to the same tradition and were most probably produced in the same workshop. Similarities in motives, composition and production technique of the studied objects have been noted. The inlays, the technical details and the motives of the decorative figures represented on the magnificent pieces studied for this research indicate a Romano-Egyptian provenance. Recent analyses carried out on objects with polychrome decoration found in various regions of the Roman Empire and dated to the 1st century CE, identified an array of patinated alloys similar to the classical Japanese irogane alloys.
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