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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2002.29
Title
Rod Tripod Stand
Classification
Furniture
Work Type
stand
Date
13th-12th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Cyprus
Period
Bronze Age, Late
Culture
Cypriot
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/142223

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
12 x 12 cm (4 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Copper
Alloying Elements: copper
Other Elements: lead, iron, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Copper:
Cu, 99.37; Sn, less than 0.25; Pb, 0.33; Zn, 0.005; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.02; Ag, 0.03; Sb, 0.055; As, 0.17; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is a heavy, obscuring layer of dark green with spots of light green and red. The broken surface on the bottom of the intact pendant indicates there is something missing at that location. The sideways tilt of the tripod appears to be the result of pressure during burial or an impact prior to burial. The repair at the rim is ancient.

The tripod is a solid cast. The components were assembled in the wax model, and the stand was cast as a single unit without any joins after casting. An x-radiograph shows no evidence of metal joins, and the soft texture of the surfaces where components meet gives the appearance of work done in the soft wax to create joins in the model. For example, the legs continue under and then up the inner surface of the top ring section and appear to have been pushed against the inside of the top ring. These overlapping surfaces indicate soft wax manipulation; there would be no need for such a large contact area if joins had been made in the metal. The spiral relief of the main ring and the loop relief on each leg appear to have been formed by working rolled strings of wax directly and attaching them to the underlying wax surface. All of the components, which are relatively simple shapes, were probably made by forming them directly in the wax. A section (1.5 x 6 cm) on the top of the rim is a repair of a casting flaw made at the time of fabrication. It appears that a sheet of wax was applied over the flaw with little attempt to recreate the lost relief pattern. After re-investing the area, a cast-on repair was poured in metal to replace this wax.


Henry Lie (submitted 2003)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
From a private collector/antiquarian, who acquired the tripod between 1947 and 1960. Purchased from Christie's (London), 7 Nov. 2001, lot 535.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, David M. Robinson Fund
Accession Year
2002
Object Number
2002.29
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This tripod stand consists of a decorated ring supported by three legs, each with flat arched upper elements that taper into a rounded, cloven hoof. Round rods or struts attached at the back of each lower leg join at a central ring. Additional rods, connected to the sides of the lower legs, rise diagonally to the bottom of the ring between the legs where three pendants hung from small loops; two of the three pendants are missing. The lower element of the remaining bud-shaped pendant appears to have been broken off. The decoration on the ring consists of eight groups of double spirals placed end to end, set off on a smooth background and bordered above and below by a narrow, rounded band. The interior of the ring is smooth and undecorated. The exterior surfaces of the upper legs are also framed by narrow, rounded bands.

The stand exhibits affinities with both the small cast stands and the rod tripod stands from Cyprus and is, consequently, an interesting hybrid example (1). It likely would have been used to support an open- or closed-shaped vessel.

NOTES:

1. See S. Hemingway and H. Lie, “A Copper Alloy Cypriot Tripod at the Harvard University Art Museums,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 103 (2007): 543-54, esp. 549-50, fig. 4.


Seán Hemingway

Publication History

  • Séan Hemingway and Henry Lie, "A Copper Alloy Cypriot Tripod at the Harvard University Art Museums", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology (Cambridge, MA, 2007), Vol. 103, 544-54, figs. 1-4.
  • Séan Hemingway, "The Age of Bronze in Greece, Cyprus, and the Near East", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 20-37, pp. 34-35, fig. 1.10.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 34-35, 44, 51, 72, fig. 1.10

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu