Sewing Needle Fragment | Harvard Art Museums

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
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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

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1964.12.41.B: Sewing Needle Fragment