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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.242
Title
Bow of a Navicella Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
late 8th-7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303752

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.7 x 3.9 x 4.3 cm (1 1/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 82.85; Sn, 14.86; Pb, 1.32; Zn, 0.015; Fe, 0.05; Ni, 0.1; Ag, 0.09; Sb, 0.35; As, 0.36; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.012; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is a rough and pitted green with reddish-brown and black corrosion over a pitted, dull black surface; some areas of bare metal are exposed. The spring, catchplate, and pin are missing. On the underside of the fibula, a thickened section of metal forms an X-shape and probably served as reinforcement. No tool marks can be seen on the poorly preserved surface.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1920.

Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of The Misses Norton
Accession Year
1920
Object Number
1920.44.242
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This fragmentary navicella fibula preserves only the bow; the catchplate, spring, and pin are all missing. The bow is wide and hollow on the underside; there is an X in relief visible on the interior cavity. Spherical knobs are present on either side of the widest part of the bow, and raised linear decoration is preserved at one end of the bow (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 263-65, nos. 483-84 and 486-87, fig. 170, pl. 104; and V. Palone, “Le fibule navicella,” in Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche 3: I bronzi della collezione Gorga, ed. M. G. Benedettini (Rome, 2012) 98-125, esp. 120-21, no. 375, pl. 20.

Lisa M. Anderson

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