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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1947.75
Title
Oinochoe Handle
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Handle of a Beaked Vase with Two Recumbent Dogs and a Siren
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
handle
Date
5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Archaic period to Classical
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304108

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
26 x 12 x 8.5 cm (10 1/4 x 4 3/4 x 3 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 83.88; Sn, 6.87; Pb, 8.85; Zn, 0.005; Fe, 0.01; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.07; As, 0.18; Bi, 0.038; Co, 0.011; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is mostly dark olive green and reddish brown with green and red corrosion products. The animal heads show areas of dark reddish-brown metal shining through the corrosion. Some areas, such as the lower portion of the handle, have thicker layers of green corrosion. There is a dark gray material on the reverse of the siren’s head on the lower portion of the handle.

The handle is structurally sound. The central portion of the handle is very worn, possibly from use. One of the raised points on the top is badly abraded to reveal bare metal.

The solid cast bronze handle was probably fabricated by lost-wax casting with the design cut in the wax prior to casting. Rough finishing marks are present on the surface. The top of the handle has a groove where it would sit on the rim of the vessel. The handle has a groove at the top to accommodate the rim of the vessel. Three rivets were used to attach the handle to the vessel: two at the ends for the top and one for the lower end of the handle.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[E.S. David, Long Island City, (1947)] sold; to the Fogg Museum, 1947.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Frederick Randolph Grace Memorial Fund
Accession Year
1947
Object Number
1947.75
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
This oinochoe handle terminates in a siren figure, which was a popular design in the fifth century BCE. Crouching animals sit atop the yoke of the rim join (1). Although their species is difficult to identify, they are most likely lions (2). They sit with their forelegs outstretched and their back legs crouched, heads turned to the outside of the vessel. The handle (2 cm wide) curves sharply upward from the rim, then downward toward the siren. The top of the loop is flattened, with a teardrop shape made of a beaded line running the length of the handle. The siren has an almost Daedalic-style wig, with horizontal striations; its face is triangular with large, high ears. The transition from the head to the handle is made by three horizontal registers of beading, vaguely suggestive of a polos crown. The siren’s tail has a double layer of feathers, and she also has double wings with three layers of feathers on both the upper and lower wings. As can be seen more clearly in better preserved examples in Berlin, the two raised vertical bars below the head are actually the feet of the siren (3).

NOTES:

1. A similar, although more elaborate, handle is published in E. Babelon and J. A. Blanchet, Catalogue des bronzes antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris, 1895) 584, no. 1449.

2. Compare two similar handles in the Berlin Antikensammlung, inv. nos. 8558 and Fr. 1409, published in W. L. Brown, The Etruscan Lion (Oxford, 1960) 124, pl. 45 (Fr. 1409 is illustrated). Compare also the lions on top of the handle published in F. Jurgeit, Die etruskischen und italischen Bronzen sowie Gegenstände aus Eisen, Blei, und Leder im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Terra Italia 5 (Pisa, 1999) 357-58, no. 584, pl. 181.

3. See Brown 1960 (supra 2) pl. 45.


Marina D. Haworth

Publication History

  • 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. 14, no. 45.

Exhibition History

  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982

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