  We construct a simple thermodynamic model to describe the melting of a
supported metal nanoparticle with a spherically curved free surface both with
and without surface melting. We use the model to investigate the results of
recent molecular dynamics simulations, which suggest the melting temperature of
a supported metal particle is the same as that of a free spherical particle
with the same surface curvature. Our model shows that this is only the case
when the contact angles of the supported solid and liquid particles are
similar. This is also the case for the temperature at which surface melting
begins.
