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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

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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