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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.41
Title
Razor with Incised Decoration
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
razor
Date
mid 9th-mid 8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, North Italy
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178388

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
6.15 cm (2 7/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, silver, antimony, arsenic

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The razor has several contradictory technical features. First, it appears to have been cast and hammered to a fine edge. At the same time, the fine dendritic structure that is visible on much of the surface would exclude hammering, since this microstructure is usually destroyed in the process of cold working (e.g., hammering) and replaced with a granular structure. The thicker “inner rim” would have been created by hammering the edge straight on. To score such long, continuous, concentric striations on the rim would be easier in the wax; to make them in the metal would have necessitated a special caliper-like set-up, perhaps even equipped with a toothed tool. The rays that spread out from these curved lines in some cases clearly overlap them, evidence that the former would have preceded them.

The hole in the blade was probably part of the original design and made before it was cast in metal. The blade is in good condition with only a few nicks. There are some hammer and chisel marks at the base of the handle. The patina is light brown with green corrosion products and some shiny metal showing through. There is no deep corrosion except for on a broken corner near the tang. The surface retains a polished finish. The edge is uneven as a result of corrosion. A small paper label with blue patterned scalloped edge is glued on one side.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2011)

Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: Small blue-edged label "446 bg."

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Walton Brooks McDaniel, New Jersey (?-1943/46) gift; to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, (1943/46-2012) transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Note: Walton Brooks McDaniel gave a portion of his collection to the Department of the Classics in 1943 and the rest in 1946. The Collection is named for his late wife, Alice Corinne McDaniel.

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
2012.1.41
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 lunate razor is decorated with very fine incised lines. The decoration is the same on both sides: there are seven parallel curved lines on the blunt side. Above them is a series of interlocking isosceles triangles; in this band, a circular hole pierces the blade. The blade thins toward the edge. The handle is broken off; because razors of this type often had a loop for suspension, it is possible that the handle broke in antiquity and that the hole in the blade may have been drilled at that time to allow for continued suspension.

The razor is an example of V. Bianco Peroni’s type “Veio,” dated to the first half of the eighth century BCE and found generally in central Italy, particularly the Villanovan region (1).

It is difficult to understand the use and symbolism of the bronze objects from Iron Age Italy that are classified as razors. Possibly used for trimming hair or beards, these razors seem to have had some symbolic value. They are typically found in male burials, and their inclusion in grave goods may indicate that the deceased was a man of mature age; or, in cases where they are found in female burials, they may be indicative of the owner’s elevated social status (2). Some razors have been found with fibulae fastened through the handle, demonstrating that they could be worn (3). Many examples have repaired handles, showing that the razors were important enough to fix if broken (4).

Razors are typically plain or covered with incised decoration, most frequently lines, bands of interlocking triangles, meanders, lines of dots hatched swastikas, and Maltese crosses. The two-edged examples, like 1987.135.28, more often bear incised concentric circles or have decorative perforations on the blade. Often there are decorative spurs, crescents, or volutes on the handles, depending on the type.

NOTES:

1. V. Bianco Peroni, I rasoi nell’Italia continentale, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 7.2 (Munich, 1979) 136-39, nos. 821-37, esp. nos. 822-35. The type, while not in itself common, is generally found in Umbria and coastal Etruscan cities.

2. See ibid., 178-82.

3. Compare ibid., nos. 156, 244, and 1042.

4. D. A. Caccioli, The Villanovan, Etruscan, and Hellenistic collections in the Detroit Institute of Arts (Leiden, 2009) 114; compare Bianco Peroni 1979 (supra 1) nos. 417 and 849.


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), M179, p. 207-208 [J. S. Crawford]
  • Lisa Anderson, "Approaches to the Identification and Classification of Ancient Bronzes in Museum Collections", 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), 92-111, pp. 100-103, fig. 4.3.d.
  • 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. 100-102, fig. 4.3d

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

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