Sep 1, 2017 16:13
6 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term
marbré d'une jolie patine à reflets
French to English
Art/Literary
Archaeology
ancient art
Hello!
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors - Catalog entry #44018, an openwork-handled mirror of bronze.
CONTEXT: Conservation: Intact dans l'ensemble. ***Disque marbré d'une jolie patine à reflets***, beaucoup plus accentuée sur l'une des faces. - Manche: patine bronze florentin sombre. A l'intérieur, oxydation verte.
ATTEMPT: Disk marbled with a nice iridescent patina, much more pronounced on one of the faces.
ISSUE: Perhaps variegated? The word "reflet" seems to exist in English, but it's truly obscure so I'd rather not use it. Reflet = luster or iridescence, esp. on ceramics. Another = an effect of brilliance or luster due to the reflection of light on a surface, especially of pottery; iridescence.
Thanks in advance help with an accurate translation of this description!
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors - Catalog entry #44018, an openwork-handled mirror of bronze.
CONTEXT: Conservation: Intact dans l'ensemble. ***Disque marbré d'une jolie patine à reflets***, beaucoup plus accentuée sur l'une des faces. - Manche: patine bronze florentin sombre. A l'intérieur, oxydation verte.
ATTEMPT: Disk marbled with a nice iridescent patina, much more pronounced on one of the faces.
ISSUE: Perhaps variegated? The word "reflet" seems to exist in English, but it's truly obscure so I'd rather not use it. Reflet = luster or iridescence, esp. on ceramics. Another = an effect of brilliance or luster due to the reflection of light on a surface, especially of pottery; iridescence.
Thanks in advance help with an accurate translation of this description!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +2 | a marbled disk with a lovely, lustrous patina |
Christopher Crockett
|
| 4 | patina |
FRENCHGUY
|
Change log
Sep 2, 2017 15:50: Yolanda Broad changed "Term asked" from "marbré d\\\'une jolie patine à reflets" to "marbré d\'une jolie patine à reflets "
Proposed translations
+2
1 hr
Christopher Crockett
Native in English
Specializes in field
M.A., Ph.D. Historian/Art Historian
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
131
French term (edited):
marbré d\'une jolie patine à reflets
Selected
a marbled disk with a lovely, lustrous patina
"A marbled disk with an lovely, lustrous patina, which is much more noticeable on one side than the other." (Though I like your "pronounced" as well.)
Here "marbled" implies that the patina is not uniform in color, but (yes) variegated --i.e., it varies, slightly, in color, as the surface seems to have aged differently in various parts, for some reason.
I think that "lustrous" works o.k. here for a "patine à reflets" --a patina could be somewhat dull or it could retain its reflective luster, probably depending upon the degree of polish still present on the surface of the piece.
Clearly, B. was in love with the variety of patinas on the bronzes he was seeing, trying his best to offer imaginative descriptions of them. (One is reminded of the fact that the patina of ancient bronzes was --and remains-- a very important element of their value; steel wool the patina off to a shiny new surface and you could well have rendered the object nearly worthless --as well as introduced the question of authenticity.)
What the hell does a "patine bronze florentin sombre" look like?
Is it "jolie"?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Here "marbled" implies that the patina is not uniform in color, but (yes) variegated --i.e., it varies, slightly, in color, as the surface seems to have aged differently in various parts, for some reason.
I think that "lustrous" works o.k. here for a "patine à reflets" --a patina could be somewhat dull or it could retain its reflective luster, probably depending upon the degree of polish still present on the surface of the piece.
Clearly, B. was in love with the variety of patinas on the bronzes he was seeing, trying his best to offer imaginative descriptions of them. (One is reminded of the fact that the patina of ancient bronzes was --and remains-- a very important element of their value; steel wool the patina off to a shiny new surface and you could well have rendered the object nearly worthless --as well as introduced the question of authenticity.)
What the hell does a "patine bronze florentin sombre" look like?
Is it "jolie"?
Inquiring minds want to know.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks very much!
Thanks to TonyM as well for the valuable advice."
36 mins
French term (edited):
marbré d\'une jolie patine à reflets
patina
it's basically the transformation of an object's surface over time so I guess the closest word I can think of is 'patina' which is associated to the look of something that has aged
Discussion
1. À l'origine, la couleur de la patine devait être brun sombre, comme le «bronze florentin» des statues du pont Alexandre-III.
2. The antique liver-colored cinque-cents, and the Florentine bronze, are of the same shade, approaching a dull reddish brown.
3. Florentine Bronze is a dark brown colour with golden highlights and visible brush marks in the surface.
It's really obscure...
As for 'reflets', I'd be a little careful with 'iridescent' — although that can certainly apply to pottery glazes and enamel that seem to change colour as you move them, that is not really to me the sort of thing you get with 'patina' on a metal surface. A word you don't often find in dictionaries, but which I sometimes find useful, is 'glints' — the idea that it may be more reflective in some direction than another, so it glints as it moves around.
I don't think 'variegated' would be at all correct here — it means 'with parts in different colours', and although that could well also happen to be the case, it isn't really what reflets' means.