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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2001.211
Title
Olpe
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
late 6th-first half of 5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Archaic period, Late, to Early Classical
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/164895

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
With handle: 11.8 x 5.9 cm (4 5/8 x 2 5/16 in.)
Height of body: 8.8 cm (3 7/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Leaded Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead
Other Elements: zinc, iron, nickel, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is bright green and brown-green with light green areas where damage has occurred, as well as brown burial accretions. Except for the rim, which has been restored with green and brown resins, and the small spots of surface loss and damage, the surface is perfectly preserved.

Small hammer marks in the interior of the neck and long vertical color striations in the patina indicate the vessel was raised rather than cast. Similar striations indicate the same is true of the handle, which has a large flattened segment fitted under the rim. The handle is attached here with three rivets; two of these are modern replacements. The lower terminal of the handle is restored with resins, but no rivet hole is present there on the vessel body, so a solder may have been used. A deep crease runs along the periphery of interior surface of the base. On the exterior, there is no indication of a join between the flat bottom and the vertical wall. The crease line in the interior appears to be the result of the order in which the stages of raising the shape occurred.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
From the collection of Salley and Robert Huxley, who purchased it in the mid 1970s from the Alex Malloy Gallery in New York.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Sally and Robert Huxley
Accession Year
2001
Object Number
2001.211
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This small olpe has a high, arching handle, which is plain and circular in section. It tapers to the undecorated attachment plate at the body. The other end of the handle becomes a wide, flat oval plate that is attached to the underside of the lip of the vessel with three small rivets. The vessel itself has a ring mouth above a tapered neck; the body expands at the shoulder before tapering again to the flat bottom (1).

An olpe, like an oinochoe, would have been part of a kit for serving wine, perhaps for pouring libations (2), although this vessel type has also been classified as an oinochoe (3).

NOTES:

1. Compare T. Weber, Bronzekannen: Studien zu ausgewahlten archaischen und klassischen Oinochoenformen aus Metall in Griechenland und Etrurien (Frankfurt, 1983) type III.B, 158-64, 372-89, nos. III.B.1-31, pl. 14; C. Tarditi, Vasi di bronzo in area Apula: Produzioni greche ed italiche di età arcaica e classica, Università di Lecce Dipartimento di Beni Culturali Settore Storico-Archeologico Collana del Dipartimento 8 (Lecce, 1996) 82-83 and 162-63, nos. 164-66, fig. 34; and M. T. Falconi Amorelli, ed., Todi preromana: Catalogo dei materiali conservati nel Museo Comunale di Todi (Todi, 1977) pl. 79.h.

2. Weber 1983 (supra 1) 169-72.

3. See Tarditi 1996 (supra 1) 167, where she notes that an olpe might be better characterized as a vessel with no clear distinction between the neck and shoulder, while oinochoai do have clearly separate necks and shoulders, as the Harvard vessel does.


Lisa M. Anderson

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