Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This double-edged razor has an oblong shape and a series of 13 circular perforations of two different sizes in a simple pattern down the center of the blade. The blade is of uniform thickness, and there is no sign of incised decoration. The blade is extensively chipped along the edges, although the flat bottom appears to be intact. The ring handle with two decorative spurs does not seem to belong to this blade; spurred handles are not a feature of this type, and indeed, the x-radiograph shows that the two sections have been joined together. The metal of the handle is thicker than the blade. The surface patina is olive green.
This object may be classified as a variant of V. Bianco Peroni’s type “Marino,” which is dated to the tenth century BCE and has a distribution, based on the few known findspots, in central and southern Italy (1).
It is difficult to understand the use and symbolism of the bronze objects from Iron Age Italy that are classified as razors. Possibly used for trimming hair or beards, these razors seem to have had some symbolic value. They are typically found in male burials, and their inclusion in grave goods may indicate that the deceased was a man of mature age; or, in cases where they are found in female burials, they may be indicative of the owner’s elevated social status (2). Some razors have been found with fibulae fastened through the handle, demonstrating that they could be worn (3). Many examples have repaired handles, showing that the razors were important enough to fix if broken (4).
Razors are typically plain or covered with incised decoration, most frequently lines, bands of interlocking triangles, meanders, lines of dots hatched swastikas, and Maltese crosses. The two-edged examples, like this one, more often bear incised concentric circles or have decorative perforations on the blade. Often there are decorative spurs, crescents, or volutes on the handles, depending on the type.
NOTES:
1. V. Bianco Peroni, I rasoi nell’Italia continentale, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 7.2 (Munich, 1979) 48-49, nos. 229-32; esp. no. 232. There is no exact parallel for the pattern of decorative perforations on this razor.
2. See ibid., 178-82.
3. Compare ibid., nos. 156, 244, and 1042.
4. D. A. Caccioli, The Villanovan, Etruscan, and Hellenistic collections in the Detroit Institute of Arts (Leiden, 2009) 114; compare Bianco Peroni 1979 (supra 1) nos. 417 and 849.
Lisa M. Anderson
