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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1987.135.32
Title
Coiled Band
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
jewelry
Date
9th-8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303913

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
0.9 x 3.6 x 3.7 cm (3/8 x 1 7/16 x 1 7/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green and tan, and the surface preserves remnants of tan burial material. The band is formed from a single wire of uneven section, which was bent back on itself at its midpoint and curled into a doubled coil. The terminals of the wire are both hammered flat into a leaf-shape. It is not clear whether the rusty accretions around this area are solely burial remains or also remnants of an iron pin. The metal is partly mineralized and has chipped in a few areas, and a crack has formed lengthwise near the bend in the wire. This may be evidence that the wire was fashioned from a hammered strip of sheet metal.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Nagler
Accession Year
1987
Object Number
1987.135.32
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
The band is made of a long wire that has been bent double and coiled into one and a half spirals, making the band two to four wires thick. The ends of the wire flatten into leaf-shapes that are not joined together. This spiral is looser and more open than the others in this group (1987.135.30, 1987.135.31, 1987.135.33, and 1987.135.34).

Although a specific use for the bands is not known, in the cases where they have been excavated, they have been found in pairs in female graves (1).

NOTES:

1. See F. Jurgeit, Die etruskischen und italischen Bronzen sowie Gegenstände aus Eisen, Blei, und Leder im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Terra Italia 5 (Pisa, 1999) 595, no. 1013, pl. 276; and K. Kilian, Früheisenzeitliche Funde aus der Südostnekropole von Sala Consilina (1970) 188-89, type R4a, pls. 43, 61, 78, and 89. Similar bands, such as Kilian’s type R4b, also have small rings attached, like 1987.135.30; see ibid., pl. 23, Gr A55. Compare also A. M. Bietti Sestieri and E. Macnamara, Prehistoric Metal Artefacts from Italy (3500-720 BC) in the British Museum (London, 2007) 19 and 195, “bracelet” type 4, nos. 638-44; a ring is attached to no. 638.


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Julie Wolfe, "Analysis of Iron Age Bronze Fibulae from Southern Italy in the Collection of the Harvard University Art Museums" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, June 1998), Unpublished, p. 1-14 passim.

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