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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.74
Title
Bell
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
bell
Date
4th-6th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period, Late, to Early Byzantine
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/174952

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast
Dimensions
3.7 x 2.9 cm (1 7/16 x 1 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The surface of the bell is corroded with fine green and brown corrosion products as well as white crystals on the inside. The shape of the bell is slightly irregular, but it is intact. The iron clapper has been entirely disfigured by rust and is fused to the inside of the bell.

The inner rim of the cast bell is beveled. A copper alloy wire was used to suspend the iron clapper, and the ends of the wire pierce the walls of the bell on each side of the exterior loop. The wire terminals are bent down on the outside to secure them.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2011)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (before 1970-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

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
2012.1.74
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 bronze bell has a large, thick hexagonal loop (1). Two small segments of bronze wire are fused to the body on either side of the loop where the suspension wire for the clapper was attached to the body. On the interior, a copper alloy suspension wire is visible under the corroded iron clapper, which is fused to the side.

NOTES:

1. Compare Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 89.4.1935; and A. Villing, “For Whom Did the Bell Toll in Ancient Greece? Archaic and Classical Greek Bells at Sparta and Beyond,” Annual of the British School at Athens 97 (2002): 223-95, esp., 259-60, fig. 27.

Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), M122, p. 186 [J. S. Crawford]

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