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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.12.37.A
Title
Hoop
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
jewelry
Date
n.d.
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Sardis (Lydia)
Find Spot: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey), Western Türkiye (Turkey)
Culture
Unidentified culture
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304094

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
4.8 x 4.2 x 0.3 cm (1 7/8 x 1 5/8 x 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is a mottled green; there are also shinier, lighter areas that seem to be preserved original surface. The black sulfide corrosion crystals must have resulted from post-excavation storage conditions.

The hoop was made in one piece from a round-sectioned wire bent to make the terminals overlap. A longitudinal crack that runs along much of the length of the piece and the few traces of facets relate to the fabrication of the object; it was probably hammered into a wire from a strip of metal. The ends are decorated with a few simple inscribed bands that run perpendicular to the wire.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Brought from Sardis; by Frederick Marquand Godwin, New York, (by 1914), by descent; to his wife Dorothy W. Godwin, New York (1914-1964), gift; to the Fogg Museum of Art, 1964.

Note: Frederick M. Godwin was the photographer for the excavations at Sardis with Howard Crosby Butler in 1913 and 1914.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Frederick M. Godwin
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.12.37.A
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 wire is bent into a circle that is too large to be a ring. The terminals are not connected and overlap to some degree; the wire is otherwise undecorated.

There is no indication that this wire was worn as a bracelet. With such a simple form, it is difficult to know how the object would have been used. It could have been a pendant decoration from a fibula or one piece of a multi-part object.

This object is one of a number of surface finds collected by the Sardis excavation photographer in 1913-1914. Because the objects are unstratified, it is difficult to assign dates and parallels.

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