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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1985.157
Title
Penannular Brooch
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin, fibula
Date
1st century BCE-1st century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304143

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
5 x 4.3 cm (1 15/16 x 1 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is mottled green with reddish-brown areas. The surface is pitted by corrosion. The pin is cracked, bent, and broken at the tip, and it has corroded through in the section bent around the body. Filing during cleaning has exposed shiny metal on the inner edges of one of the loop terminals.

The fibula is formed from two pieces of metal, which were both wrought into rectangular sectioned rods that were bent into shape. The loop terminals of the body were hammered flat and curled, perhaps around a thin rod, to give them their scrolled shape. The flattened end of the pin was also fashioned by hammering.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2002)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Nagler
Accession Year
1985
Object Number
1985.157
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
The terminals of this penannular brooch are flattened and rolled toward the interior of the hoop into tight circles. The brooch is intact, and the hoop is square in section. The pin, with a slight taper toward the point, is flattened and rolled into a loose circle at the broader end to attach to the hoop (1).

NOTES:

1. Compare M. Feugère, Les fibules en Gaule méridionale: De la conquête à la fin du Ve s. ap. J.-C., Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise Suppl. 12 (Paris, 1985) 420, type 30g2; S. S. Frere, J. K. St. Joseph, et al., “The Roman Fortress at Longthorpe,” Britannia 5 (1974): 1-129, esp. 45, no. 12; R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 295-301, no. 1284, fig. 96; and D. Mackreth, Brooches in late Iron Age and Roman Britain (Oxford, 2011) 206-208, nos. 3161 and 3169, pl. 143.

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