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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.297
Title
Seated Musician
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
5th-6th century
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient)
Period
Byzantine period, Early
Culture
Coptic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/301881

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Mixed copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Mixed Copper Alloy:
Cu, 73.11; Sn, 3.67; Pb, 15.09; Zn, 7.32; Fe, 0.45; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.09; Sb, 0.06; As, 0.15; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: This object is in fair and stable condition. It is moderately corroded, and there are compact patches of green corrosion products. The patina is green. The edges of the base have been reduced with modern rotary grinding tool. The figure was solid lost-wax cast. Linear demarcation of hair and fingers appears to have been modeled in the wax. The wax model may have been assembled from three sections: the musical instrument, the figure, and the chair.


Tony Sigel (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
From the collection of Nelson Goodman, who acquired it in New York in the 1960s.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, David M. Robinson Fund
Accession Year
1992
Object Number
1992.297
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 small, seated figure holds a long, stringed musical instrument in front. The period in which it was made is unclear. The face is simply rendered with a bulbous nose and circular eyes. The figure’s mouth may be rendered open, perhaps to indicate singing. The edge of the base has been reduced with a modern rotary grinding tool.

Simply formed figures of this type are often labeled Coptic. The Harvard musician may have belonged to a larger composition, as indicated by a small copper alloy model temple on top of which are seated five musicians that are very similar to the Harvard piece, and at least one also plays a stringed instrument (1). Other similar unassociated Coptic musicians were known previously in Berlin (2). The Harvard piece is similar in scale and modeling to a small statuette purchased in Egypt of a woman holding a mirror (3) and to Coptic statuettes in Cairo (4). A similar seating arrangement and oversized hands are also seen in a piece in the Benaki Museum, Athens (5).

NOTES:

1. See Aegyptische Kunst: Auktion 46, Münzen und Medaillen (Basel), April 28, 1972, lot 154, with additional comparanda. See H. Mahboubian, Art of Ancient Iran: Copper and Bronze (London, 1997) 272-73, no. 352, for a single figure playing a stringed instrument seated atop a censer.

2. See J. Strzygowski, Hellenistische und koptische Kunst in Alexandria (Vienna, 1902) 51, figs. 37-41.

3. L. Török, Coptic Antiquities 1 (Rome, 1993) 18, no. C 8, pl. 5.

4. See the figure on a handle of a pan in J. Strzygowski, Catalogue général du Musée du Caire des antiquités égyptiennes: Koptische Kunst (Vienna, 1904) 278, no. 9101, pl. 31.

5. D. Fotopoulos and A. Delivorrias, Greece at the Benaki Museum, transl. J. Leatham (Athens, 1997) 204, fig. 342.


Anne L. McClanan

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • 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