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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.126
Title
The Moon God Mên
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
2nd-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Anatolia
Period
Roman Imperial period, Middle
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304072

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
13.5 x 4.2 x 2.5 cm (5 5/16 x 1 5/8 x 1 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 83.03; Sn, 4.97; Pb, 11.47; Zn, 0.243; Fe, 0.17; Ni, 0.02; Ag, 0.04; Sb, 0.05; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is green with white burial accretions. The burial accretions on the back obscure some details of the cape. The right foot and left hand are lost. The lower left leg is soldered onto the body, but this appears to be an ancient repair. Corrosion products that have grown over the repair on the left leg appear to be consistent with adjacent areas, and earlier analyses of the added foot indicate that it matches the rest of the cast very closely. It is likely that a similar foot from the foundry’s inventory was attached to the statuette when a flaw was found on the left foot.

The statuette is a solid cast. Although there is no evidence to support this, the statuette was probably made using an indirect technique, with additional detail added to the wax model. Elongated and circular punch tools were used in the metal to add cold-worked detail in areas of the hair, hat, eyes, sandals, and pinecone.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Purchased in Izmir, Turkey.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, David M. Robinson Fund
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.126
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
The moon god Mên holds his right arm out, clutching a pinecone. He wears a Phrygian cap over his wavy hair. The long cap, which ends in a point at the back, is decorated with incised lines and dots that may be a stylized representation of foliage. The border of the cap bears diagonal marks, possibly meant to represent a lining. Mên is depicted as a beardless youth. His eyes are deep-set in his oval face, and his mouth appears to be open. The points of the crescent moon seem to emerge from his shoulders; the rest of the crescent is not visible in the back. He wears a long, heavy cloak that covers his back with some horizontal and vertical marks to represent the drapery. The cloak comes over his shoulders, leaving his arms exposed, and is clasped at his breast with two raised spheres. Under the cloak, he wears a short, long-sleeved tunic, which is loosely draped above the belt. Below the curving horizontal line indicating the belt, the lower part of his garment falls in regular, vertical pleats to his knees. The ends of his sleeves are visible at the wrists (1). His extant hand, rendered with lines to indicate joints of the fingers and even fingernails, clutches a pine coin that is covered with hatchmarks. His left hand may have held a dish or other attribute. He stands frontally with his right leg locked. The knee is rendered and the top of a boot is visible before the break of the foot. The left knee is bent, with the foot moved back. The currently attached foot does not belong to this statuette. It wears a sandal that does not match the boot that the right foot would have worn (2).

Mên was a lunar deity worshipped in ancient Asia Minor (modern Turkey), who had a variety of roles, from god of healing to protector of tombs, and was also associated with fertility and the military (3). He is often shown with a crescent moon behind his shoulders and holding various attributes, sometimes a pinecone, although the precise meaning of this second attribute is not clear (4).

NOTES:

1. For representations of Mên in very similar attire, see Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae Men nos. 62-63, 68, and 76.

2. Although there are other images that depict Mên standing, most show him with one arm raised, holding a staff or thyrsos; see LIMC Men nos. 24-63 and 75-95. A few representations show him with both arms held at waist height, like the Harvard piece, or with one arm out and the other placed on the hip; these examples may have been based on the same original cult image; see LIMC Men nos. 64-66 (no. 65 is the Harvard piece) and 67-74.

3. See U. W. Hiesinger, “Three Images of the God Mên,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 71 (1967): 303-10; and E. N. Lane, “Men: A Neglected Cult of Roman Asia Minor,” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.18.3 (Berlin, 1990): 2161-74.

4. See Hiesinger 1967 (supra 3) 304; and E. N. Lane, Corpus Monumentorum Religionis Dei Menis 3: Interpretations and Testimonia (Leiden, 1976) 104-105, for possible interpretations of the pinecone, including that was an offering, a symbol of his role as a fertility god, or an apotropaic symbol.

Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • "Some Recent Acquisitions: Photographs", Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions, 1964, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1964), p. 69.
  • Ulrich W. Hiesinger, "Three Images of the God Men", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology (Cambridge, MA, 1966), Vol. 71, pp. 303-310, pls. 1-2.
  • E.N. Lane, Corpus Monumentorum Religionis Dei Menis 1: The Monuments and Inscriptions, Leiden (Brill, 1971), p. 88, no. 138, pl. 63.
  • G. Kenneth Sams, ed., Small Sculptures in Bronze from the Classical World: An Exhibit in Honor of Emeline Hill Richardson, exh. cat., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC, 1976), no. 70.
  • Dieter Salzmann, "Neue Denkmäler des Mondgottes Mên", Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Abteilung Istanbul, Fogg Art Museum (1980), 30, 261-90, pl. 99-114, p. 280-81, pl. 109.2-4.
  • David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 16, no. 59.
  • Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Artemis (Zürich, Switzerland, 1999), Vol. 6, Men 65.

Exhibition History

  • Small Sculptures in Bronze from the Classical World: An Exhibit in Honor of Emeline Hill Richardson, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, 03/07/1976 - 04/18/1976
  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982
  • Roman Gallery Installation (long-term), Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/1999 - 01/20/2008
  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/17/2017 - 01/07/2018

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Roman Domestic Art

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