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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.252
Title
Bow of a Drago Fibula
Other Titles
Alternate Title: small package of Etruscan fragments (decorative object with slim body and projec
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
late 8th-early 7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303969

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 74.99; Sn, 22.08; Pb, 1.36; Zn, 0.036; Fe, 0.06; Ni, 0.09; Ag, 0.14; Sb, 0.56; As, 0.59; Bi, 0.051; Co, 0.033; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina features light and dark green corrosion over black; bare metal is visible at one end. The fragment has a crack at one end showing embrittlement and modern tool marks. The object is a solid cast and was finished with cold working after casting.


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
1920.44.252
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 undulating fragment is the bow of a fibula; the catchplate, spring, and pin are missing. There are six protruding spheroid knobs on the sides of the bow; two others have broken off (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare complete examples in R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 336-37, no. 1352; H. Donder, Die Fibeln, Katalog der Sammlung antiker Kleinkunst des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg 3.2 (Mainz, 1994) 70-75, no. 37, pl. 8; A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 245, no. 437, fig. 142; J. M. Turfa, Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 2005) 87, no. 9; and A. M. Bietti Sestieri and E. Macnamara, Prehistoric Metal Artefacts from Italy (3500-720 BC) in the British Museum (London, 2007) 18, 192, and 236 (fibula types 50-51), nos. 604-608.

Lisa M. Anderson

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