Harvard Art Museums > 2012.1.89: Inkwell Tools and Equipment Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Inkwell , 2012.1.89,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Sep 07, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/191800. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2012.1.89 Title Inkwell Classification Tools and Equipment Work Type inkwell Date 1st century BCE-2nd century CE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World Period Roman Imperial period Culture Roman Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/191800 Physical Descriptions Medium Copper alloy Technique Cast, lost-wax process Dimensions h. including loops 5.3 x diam. 6.1 cm (2 1/16 x 2 3/8 in.) Technical Details Technical Observations: The patina is black with areas of green. Light brown burial accretions are present. The two holes in the rim and shoulder area and the loss of the top of one handle loop are probably the result of mineralization and brittleness at these locations. The perfectly circular geometry of the inkwell points to a wax model that was either cast from a mold using the indirect lost-wax process or turned in the wax using the direct process. The surface details are too obscured to offer certain evidence of how the wax model was made. The holes in the handle loops are crisp and slightly irregular, and they may have been drilled into the metal. The base is relatively thin compared to the body of the vessel. A small, circular pattern (7 mm in diameter) in the middle of the bottom of the foot appears to be related to its means of attachment to the body and indicates that the body and the foot were separately formed. Several small carbon-like sticks inside the inkwell appear clean and in good condition; they are probably modern insertions. Henry Lie (submitted 2011) Provenance Recorded Ownership History {Hesperia Art, Philadelphia, PA] (1969), sold; to the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (1969-2012), 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 2012.1.89 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums The body of the inkwell is a broad, round cauldron-shape with a deep bevel just below the rim. There is a small lozenge-shaped hole on top of the vessel for ink (1). It is surrounded by three concentric rings that lower in level as they approach the ink hole. The wide rim is decorated by bands, with the central band wider than the two bands on either side. The foot is flat and circular, with a small circle in the bottom center. On either side of the top, loops are present for the attachment of thin swinging handles that folded down on either side for access to the ink. The inkwell would have been part of a writing set (2). NOTES: 1. Compare M. Kunze, Meisterwerke antiker Bronzen und Metallarbeiten aus der Sammlung Borowski 1: Griechische und römische Bronzen (Ruhpolding and Mainz, 2007) 267, no. R 60 (inv. no. GR 164), which has similar loops on the top of the vessel for the attachment of swinging handles. 2. See N. I. Khairy, “Ink-wells of the Roman Period from Jordan,” Levant 12 (1980): 155-62. 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), M193, p. 212-13 [J. S. Crawford] Exhibition History Roman Gallery Installation (long-term), Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/1999 - 01/20/2008 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024 Subjects and Contexts Roman Domestic Art 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