The evolution of metallurgy is a fundamental aspect related to the knowledge of the technological level of ancient civilizations, for which the information was mostly part of an oral tradition. The ancient, preserved artefacts are the only keepers of this long gone knowledge. Most advanced non-invasive techniques provide us the key to access it. Neutron techniques are nowadays the only available approach for revealing, non-destructively and with good spatial resolution, the morphological and microstructural properties within the whole volume of densely composed artefacts such as bronze statues. Application of neutron methods allows us to learn about ancient artefact manufacturing methods and to study at a very detailed level the current conservation status in their different parts. As part of a research project dedicated to the study of ancient Asian bronzes led by the Rijksmuseum Metal Conservation Department, four statues from the Rijksmuseum Asian collection were analysed using non-invasive neutron techniques. In this work, we present the investigation of a South Indian bronze statuette depicting Shiva in the form of Chandrasekhara (AK-MAK-1291, c. 1000–1200 A.D.) by means of white beam tomography, energy-selective neutron imaging (performed on CONRAD-2 at HZB, DE, and on FISH at TU-Delft, NL), and neutron diffraction (on ENGIN-X at ISIS, UK). The application of neutron imaging revealed the inner structure of the statue and allowed us to investigate the conservation state and potential cracking on the surface and in the bulk, to understand the interconnection of the different sections of the statue, and to obtain clues about the manufacturing processes. These morphological and microstructural results were employed to guide neutron diffraction analyses that allowed us to precisely characterize compositional differences, the presence of dendrites and columnar growth peak structures related to casting. This work is a complete non-invasive analytical investigation on an archaeological bronze artefact, providing outstanding results: from a quantitative analysis of the composition and microstructure to an in-depth morphological analysis capable of unveiling details on the ancient casting methods of the statue.

冶金学的演变是与古代文明技术水平知识相关的一个基本方面，其中的信息主要是口头传统的一部分。古老的、保存完好的文物是这些早已消失的知识的唯一守护者。最先进的非侵入性技术为我们提供了访问它的钥匙。中子技术是当今唯一可用的方法，能够以良好的空间分辨率无损地揭示青铜雕像等密集文物的整个体积内的形态和微观结构特性。中子方法的应用使我们能够了解古代文物的制造方法，并非常详细地研究其不同部位的当前保护状况。作为国立博物馆金属保护部门领导的古代亚洲青铜器研究项目的一部分，使用非侵入性中子技术对国立博物馆亚洲收藏的四件雕像进行了分析。在这项工作中，我们通过白束断层扫描、能量选择性中子成像（在特拉华州 HZB 的 CONRAD-2 和荷兰代尔夫特理工大学的 FISH ）以及中子衍射（英国 ISIS 的 ENGIN-X）。中子成像的应用揭示了雕像的内部结构，使我们能够研究表面和本体的保存状态和潜在的裂纹，了解雕像不同部分的互连，并获得制造的线索流程。这些形态和微观结构结果用于指导中子衍射分析，使我们能够精确表征成分差异、枝晶的存在以及与铸造相关的柱状生长峰结构。这项工作是对考古青铜器进行的一次完整的非侵入性分析研究，提供了出色的结果：从成分和微观结构的定量分析到能够揭示古代雕像铸造方法细节的深入形态分析。