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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1940.138
Title
Spatula
Other Titles
Alternate Title: hairpin and ear spoon
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
spatula
Date
1st-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Antioch (Syria)
Find Spot: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303704

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10 x 0.6 cm, 0.4 cm (3 15/16 x 1/4 in., 3/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina of 1940.138 has been stripped to a pitted brown-black surface, while the patina of 1964.12.38 is green with thick burial encrustations. The patina of 1978.495.58 is green, red, and black corrosion. One end of 1978.495.58 is broken off.

The instruments were made by casting the general shape, and there may have been some working to further shape the square or rectangular ends and finish the surface. 1964.12.38 has iron corrosion preserved inside its hollow end. The other two instruments are solid metal.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Excavated from Daphne, sector DH-26-M/N (no. C247-U733) (Turkey, Hatay) by the Syrian Department of Antiquities (later the Hatay government) and the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity, (1935-1939), dispersed; to Fogg Art Museum, 1940.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity
Accession Year
1940
Object Number
1940.138
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 round shaft tapers from the blunt end of the handle to a very thin wedge-shaped flat blade. The tongue is square (1).

Greek and Roman medical instruments, many of which were described by ancient authors, have been found, sometimes in sets, throughout the ancient world (2). The instruments could have been used for more than one function, making precise classification difficult in some instances. A spatula is a probe with one flattened, spatula-shaped end and a probe on the other used for stirring and applying medicines, among other uses (3). Spatulae are among the most common instrument types (4).

NOTES:

1. Compare L. J. Bliquez, Roman Surgical Instruments and Other Minor Objects in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Mainz, 1994) pls. 2.2 and 3.12.

2. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times (Oxford, 1907) 1-9; and D. Michaelides, “A Roman Surgeon’s Tomb from Nea Paphos,” Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1984: 315-32, esp. 321-23.

3. Milne 1907 (supra 2) 58-61; Michaelides 1984 (supra 2) 325-26; and R. Jackson and S. La Niece, “A Set of Roman Medical Instruments from Italy,” Britannia 17 (1986): 119-67, esp. 158.

4. Bliquez 1994 (supra 1) 46-47.


David Smart

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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