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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.83
Title
Small Rectangular Weight
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
weight
Date
1st-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Carthage (North Africa)
Period
Roman period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/149037

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Dimensions
1.24 g, 1 x 0.86 x 0.21 cm (3/8 x 5/16 x 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: This small rectangular weight has a waffle-like pattern on one side. Exactly how the indentations were produced is not clear, as the surface is mostly concealed by greenish corrosion products and a yellow friable material. The other side preserves diagonal file marks from post-excavation cleaning in the corrosion layer. Oxidized brown metal has been revealed where the remaining corrosion layer has been worn through on the more exposed edges. The dark brownish-black specks are probably copper sulfide crystals resulting from a modern storage environment.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Horton O'Neil, Cos Cob, CT (1925/26-1967), gift; to the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (1967-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

NOTE: Horton O'Neil (1908-1997) excavated Roman and Carthaginian ruins at Tunis in North Africa for two years prior to entering Princeton University from where he graduated in 1930.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.83
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 very small weight, perhaps equivalent to a scrupulum, could have been used for making very precise measurements. It is square and thin, with one side decorated in a raised crosshatched pattern. It could also have been used as a decorative inlay (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare a set of 25 squares of similar size in R. D. De Puma, Etruscacn Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2014) 278-79, no. 7.62.

Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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