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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.233
Title
Head on a Conical Shaft
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
second half 5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Classical period, High
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304034

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
6.5 x 1.3 x 1.3 cm (2 9/16 x 1/2 x 1/2 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 83.94; Sn, 8.57; Pb, 6.78; Zn, 0.002; Fe, 0.04; Ni, 0.13; Ag, 0.09; Sb, 0.13; As, 0.27; Bi, 0.05; Co, 0.009; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is a rough, raised green with areas of blue as well as brown burial accretions. The object is stable, although the surface is poorly preserved. The object was probably cast from a model formed directly in the wax. Although the surface is poorly preserved, the head appears to have had very little detail when it was fabricated.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

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
1920.44.233
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
A roughly rendered human head, positioned frontally, tops one end of this pin shaft. The only feature still prominent on this head is its flat, triangular nose, although eyes and a mouth are visible on the round face. The head is topped by either hair or a highly simplified cap, perhaps a diadem (1). A rib-like collar forms the head’s neck, which acts as a transition-like feature between the head and the pin’s shaft. The thick, smooth shaft of this pin is slightly bent near its midpoint. The shaft gradually tapers to a blunt point and may have broken off at this end.

NOTES:

1. Compare similar heads, some with diadems, on tapering shafts published in M. T. Falconi Amorelli, ed., Todi preromana: Catalogo dei materiali conservati nel Museo Comunale di Todi (Todi, 1977) pl. 94.a-f; M. Bolla and G. P. Tabone, Bronzistica figurata preromana e romana del Civico Museo Archeologico “Giovio” di Como (Como, 1996) 83, no. A 70; and A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 49-50, nos. 83-85, pl. 28.


David Smart

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