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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.34
Title
Ring
Other Titles
Former Title: Finger Ring
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
ring
Date
8th-6th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178241

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
0.8 x 3 cm (5/16 x 1 3/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green with areas of red and brown. Several areas of the surface perfectly preserve the original condition of the metal. Surface loss to considerable depth has occurred in other areas.

The ring is a solid cast from a wax model. The perfectly uniform shape and the precise, raised band on the outer edge point to the use of a mold to make the model. The raised band is 1.5 mm wide and 0.3 mm high. Some areas show wear.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

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
2012.1.34
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
The surface of this thick ring retains a polished finish. A raised ridge decorates the entire circumference of the exterior. The shape is slightly irregular.

The diameter and thickness of this ring preclude it having been worn as a finger ring. Rings of similar size and thickness were sometimes worn on fibulae as decoration (1).

NOTES:

1. See F. Jurgeit, Die etruskischen und italischen Bronzen sowie Gegenstände aus Eisen, Blei, und Leder im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Terra Italia 5 (Pisa, 1999) 609, nos. 1054-56, pl. 282. For two fibulae joined by chains with two amber rings on the larger fibula that are similar to the Harvard copper alloy ring, see J. M. Turfa, Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 2005) 88-89, no. 11.

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), M33, p. 165 [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