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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.483
Title
Relief-Decorated Rim of a Deep Vessel
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
first half 4th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Macedonia, Olynthos (Macedonia)
Period
Classical period, Late
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303867

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
16.8 x 7.7 cm (6 5/8 x 3 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead/arsenic, iron
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: These three fragments of a very heavily mineralized vessel were glued together with a colored resinous material at some point after excavation. The cursorily filled joins were partially concealed with green and red to match the mottled copper alloy corrosion products. The complex green, red, blue, and gray corrosion layering is visible along the broken edges. It has the appearance of corrosion that developed under water.

Some of the relatively low-relief figural elements of the vessel can be made out and look as though they had been modeled in great detail. The vessel was cast by the lost-wax process. However, the condition of the fragments does not allow us to characterize the original surface work. A staple (c. 3.0 cm long and 3.3 mm in diameter) and adhesive on the interior below the rim, camouflaged under green paint, help hold the two larger pieces together.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ritsos Collection. David M. Robinson, Baltimore, MD, (by 1941), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1960.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.483
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 curving portion of a vase consists of three joining fragments. The flat rim, 1.35 cm in width, extends slightly beyond the vessel’s wall. The outer surface is slightly convex but tapers slightly downward. Beneath the rim is a concave zone (0.7 cm wide), below which is a frieze of sea creatures swimming to the left in low relief. The creatures appear to be (from left to right): a ketos with goat head looking backward, a hippocamp with carefully rendered head and equine forelegs, a second ketos with a goat-like head facing forward, and the tail of a third ketos whose forepart is missing. A small fish swims left in front of the hippocamp; a small, round-tailed creature, perhaps a ray, swims between the head of the second ketos and the tail of the third. This frieze is bordered by a single ridge at the top and two ridges on the bottom. A concave zone separates the two bottom ridges. At the bottom is a trace of lotus and palmettes, where two lotuses flank a seven-petalled palmette.

These joining fragments probably belonged to a conical situla, or wine bucket. It is unusual, however, because it was not hammered, but rather cast, a technique that is rare among Classical Greek bronze vessels. The frieze of swimming marine creatures, including a hippocamp and ketoi, belongs to the “marine thiasos,” a subject popular in all media during the fourth century BCE (1). Such sea creatures occur both singly and as mounts for Nereids who accompany Thetis, Achilles’ mother, in bringing the new panoply made by Hephaistos to Achilles to replace his first suit of armor (2). Said to have been found at Olynthos, this vase may have been made in a Macedonian workshop.

The object most likely dates between 400 and 350 BCE. If the reported provenience is trustworthy, the date would be certainly no later than the destruction of Olynthos by Philip II in 348 BCE.

NOTES:

1. See K. Shepard, The Fish-Tailed Monster in Greek and Etruscan Art (New York, 1940).

2. As described at Iliad 19.1-39.


David G. Mitten

Publication History

  • David Moore Robinson, Excavations at Olynthus, The Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD, 1941), p. 185-86, no. 576, pl. 65.
  • Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 29, no. 234

Exhibition History

  • The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961

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