1984.198: Frontlet

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1984.198

Title

Frontlet

Classification

Riding Equipment

Work Type

ornament

Date

9th-8th century BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Urartu

Period

Iron Age

Culture

Urartian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/304208

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Main metal: Bronze; Ring loop: Mixed copper alloy

Technique

Hammered

Dimensions

7.7 x 15.2 x 0.1 cm (3 1/16 x 6 x 1/16 in.)

Technical Details

Chemical Composition: Main
XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, silver, arsenic

Ring loop
XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Mixed Copper Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead, zinc
Other Elements: iron, silver

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina on the front is brown and green with areas of red and black. The back is mostly green. There are tan burial accretions and rust staining from a corroded reinforcing plate and the links.

The object was fabricated from sheet bronze, with an iron reinforcing plate attached to one end with copper alloy rivets. The plate and sheet are crudely pierced by eight holes, four of which retain heavily corroded remains of loops. A portion of the now-mineralized iron reinforcing plate is intact on the back. Preferential corrosion of the iron has assisted in protecting much of the underlying bronze surface, where inscribed layout lines that bisect the holes are observable. The top edges and contours of the holes are chamfered through the burnishing action of the chain loops against the metal; the holes, originally circular, now have a stretched or oval appearance. The other short end of the ornament is pierced by two holes, similarly chamfered, one of which has a corroded iron attachment.

The front decoration was created by punches and engraving. Points, circles, and short lines were made using punches with these shapes. Longer lines were made with repeated hammer blows to a tracer tool. Fainter lines appear to have been made more freely by drawing a point across the surface of the metal.


Tony Sigel (submitted 1999)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Marian H. Phinney Fund

Accession Year

1984

Object Number

1984.198

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Harness ornament (frontlet) of celt-shaped form pierced at the flaring ends for attachment, one side finely engraved within dotted circles and chevron borders with a lion and bull confronted.

Subjects and Contexts

• Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level