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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.12.41.B
Title
Sewing Needle Fragment
Other Titles
Former Title: Wire Fragment
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
needle
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/304180

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
4 x 0.2 cm (1 9/16 x 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The needle is largely mineralized and fragile. The needle was formed by hammering and is flattened at one end; a hole (1 mm) has been punched at the flattened surface. The opposite end is a fractured surface. The patina is a rough, raised green corrosion layer.


Henry Lie (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
1964.12.41.B
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 tip of this sewing needle is broken. The end with the loop hole is squared and slightly flatter than the shank of the needle (1).

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.

NOTES:

1. For a complete example of a needle with a squared end, see M. Kohlert-Németh, Archäologische Reihe Römische Bronzen aus Nida-Heddernheim 2: Fundsachen aus dem Hausrat (Frankfurt, 1990) 90, no. 53.1.


Lisa M. Anderson

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