Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This triangular comb, of which two sides are well preserved, is covered with decorative elements. On one face, a row of concentric circles follows the edge of the comb, and there are additional circles within the field. On the other face, a row of smaller concentric circles likewise follows the edge. Inside this line, a band of interlocking triangles forms another triangle, most of which is preserved. The interior of this triangle is broken into two elements by a transverse band of interlocking triangles; above this band are three large concentric circles arranged in a triangle and below it is a line of smaller concentric circles. The teeth of the comb are on the longest preserved edge; some are partially or fully broken. The other preserved edge of the comb is perforated along the edge for the attachment of small rings, of which 11 still remain. The top of the triangular comb is slightly rounded and may have been attached to another element to wear as a pendant.
Comparable copper alloy combs are known from Iron Age Italy with a variety of decorative motifs and may have been used as pendants (1).
NOTES:
1. For a comb, perhaps Roman, with concentric circle decoration similar to the Harvard piece, see Cosmorama pittorico 35 (1836) 275-76, no. 14. For another comb with circular decoration, perhaps used as a pendant, see J. M. Turfa, Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 2005) 127, no. 73 (inv. no. MS 1058, early seventh century BCE). For an example with a chain and embossed dome decoration, see A. M. Sgubini Moretti, Veio, Cerveteri, Vulci: Città d’Etruria a confronto, exh. cat., Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia (Rome, 2001) 101, no. I.G.5.19. For undecorated Iron Age copper alloy and ivory combs, likely used as pendants, see P. Orsi, Necropoli e stazioni sicule di transizione 5: Necropoli al Molino della Badia presso Grammichele (Parma, 1905) 24 and 26-27, figs. 23-25. Several copper alloy and bone or ivory pendant combs are published in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, and M. Cremaschi, Le Terramare: La più antica civiltà padana (Milan, 1997) 343, 346-49, 396, 532, 534, and 764; figs. 182.1, 187.17, 190.1-2, 231.57, 296.8-17, and 451.3-4.
Lisa M. Anderson
