Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.244
Title
Fibula
Other Titles
Alternate Title: small package of Etruscan fragments (fibula fragment)
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
7th-6th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Orientalizing period to Archaic
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304054

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.3 x 5.1 x 0.9 cm (7/8 x 2 x 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is light green with dark brown oxidation where modern wear has occurred. Brown burial accretions are also present. The surface is fairly well preserved. The spring and pin have been lost. The object was cast, probably from a model made directly in wax. The catchplate and the now-lost pin were shaped by hammering after the casting process.


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
1920.44.244
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The bow and catchplate of this fibula are preserved, although the spring and pin are missing. The bow is short and bulbous, and it has raised ridges on its tapering ends. The catchplate is quite long in comparison to the bow, with an upturned finial at the terminal (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 273-74, nos. 508 and 513, fig. 186, pl. 104; and B. Giuliani, “Le fibule orientalizzanti-arcaiche: Alcune forme della koinè adriatica,” in Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche 3: I bronzi della collezione Gorga, ed. M. G. Benedettini (Rome, 2012) 126-55, esp. 141-42, no. 440, pl. 24.

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