Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The handle of this strigil is a cylinder that was formed from a sheet; the seam is visible on the side of the scoop. The sides of the scoop are more curved than on other examples. The cylindrical handle has a seam on one side that opens into a deep, elongated scoop section (with a maximum depth of 1.15 cm) and ends in a flared lip. Comparable examples may be found in the area of Corinth, where the earliest strigils also have hollow, tubular handles, like this example, perhaps for the insertion of a wooden handle (1).
A strigil, which consists of a curved scoop with a handle, was a tool used in the baths for cleaning an individual’s body. Oil would be applied to a person’s skin and then removed, along with dirt or sweat, using the curved scoop of a strigil (2). The Apoxyomenos statue type, known from ancient literature as well as several copies including two over-life-size bronze versions, depicts an athlete cleaning the scoop of a strigil after use (3).
NOTES:
1. See C. W. Blegen, H. Palmer, and R. S. Young, Corinth 13: The North Cemetery (Princeton, 1964) 91-95, 216, 222, and 236; nos. 262-4 (iron), 277-1 (iron), and 322-2 (copper alloy); pl. 81; and I. K. Raubitschek, Isthmia 7: The Metal Objects (1952-1989) (Princeton, 1998) 122 and 128-29, nos. 460-63, fig. 26, pl. 73.
2. For an overview of the use of strigils, see G. M. A. Richter, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Bronzes (New York, 1915) 293-94. For an overview of strigil types, see Blegen, Palmer, and Young 1964 (supra 1) 91-95, fig. 9.
3. Pliny, Natural History 34.65. For the statue type and copies, see J. M. Daehner and K. Lapatin, eds., Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, exh. cat., Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (Los Angeles, 2015) 122-23 and 270-81, nos. 40-44. A red-figure plate at Harvard, 1960.351, also depicts an athlete holding a strigil.
Francesca G. Bewer and Lisa M. Anderson
