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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.238
Title
Crescent-Shaped Object with Three Half Spheres
Other Titles
Alternate Title: small package of Etruscan fragments (small decorative loop)
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
jewelry
Date
1st century BCE-1st century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, North Italy
Period
Roman period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303968

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
1.1 x 1.8 cm (7/16 x 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patinas of both 1920.44.238 and 1920.44.239 are green and black. The surfaces of both are porous and pitted. There are casting flaws, including a crack in 1920.44.238. The objects were cast solid, possibly from the same mold, although casting flaws make this determination difficult.


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
1920.44.238
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 openwork object consists of a semicircular section and a straight section with a row of three hollow spheres, open on the bottom, forming a pelta shape. There is a small chip on the curved portion of this piece. This may be a decorative element, possibly of a belt (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare the examples in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. nos. Fr. 1552 x and 30891 ff, the latter of which was found in a grave dated to the early first century CE; see R. Zahn, “Das sogenannte Kindergrab des Berliner Antiquariums,” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 65-66 (1950-51): 264-86, esp. 266, fig. 2.

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