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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1984.23
Title
Knobbed Fibula
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Bow Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin, fibula
Date
late 6th-early 5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Thessaly
Period
Archaic period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304084

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
3 x 4.8 x 1.1 cm (1 3/16 x 1 7/8 x 7/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is a very even, well-preserved layer of green. Some brown accretions are present. Although slightly etched, the entire surface is uniformly well preserved. The pin is a metal replacement that was painted green.

The bow section was cast. It is not obvious if the wax model was cast in a mold or fashioned directly. The catchplate and sleeved hinge show abrasive cold work in their finishing, and the plate was bent into its curved shape. The two nodules on one side of the catchplate have underlying pins that pass through and are peened flat on the other side of the plate. The original pin would probably have been flattened at the end inside the sleeved hinge and fixed with a pin. Point and circular punch marks adorn both the catchplate and the hinge


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Herbert A. Cahn
Accession Year
1984
Object Number
1984.23
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 fibula, with its magnificent light green patina and excellent state of preservation, is a variation on knobbed-bow fibulae made in Macedonia (1). The cast bow features three oblate beads; both sides of the central bead and the tops of the flanking beads are bordered by framing ridges. The catchplate has two oval extensions, each of which bears a small separately attached hemispherical bosses fastened by a rivet. The projection at the opposite end of the bow, from which the hinge of the pin projects, is marked by five tiny punched circles, each with a central pit. Three other similar punched circles extend vertically along the back of the catchplate between the two small bosses. The hinged pin appears to be intact. Although the use of a hinged pin rather than a coiled-spring pin is a late trait in Greek fibulae, the forms of the massive beads on the bow suggest that this is a sophisticated Late Archaic fibula, perhaps made between 530 and 480 BCE, somewhere in Macedonia or along the northern coast of the Aegean.

NOTES:

1. For comparison, see H. Philipp, Bronzeschmuck aus Olympia, Olympische Forschungen 13 (Berlin, 1981) 317, no. 1132, pl. 70; and I. Kilian-Dirlmeier, Kleinfunde aus dem Athena Itonia-Heiligtum bei Philia (Thessalien) (Mainz, 2002) 96, nos. 1470-77, 1481, and 1488, pls. 93-94. For other examples, see Chr. Blinkenberg, Lindiaka 5: Fibules grecques et orientales, Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13.1 (Copenhagen, 1926).


David G. Mitten

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