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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.844.26
Title
Amulet of Female Sexual Organ
Classification
Amulets
Work Type
amulet
Date
1st-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304260

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.9 x 1.2 x 1 cm (1 1/8 x 7/16 x 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The smooth blackish-green patina is disturbed in numerous areas by outcroppings of green corrosion pustules and by craters where these have been cleared away during restoration. There is some reddish-brown cupritic growth.

The object was cast in one piece. There is a slightly angular transition from the front to the back along the sides of the object, which appears to be a seam line from a two-piece mold. This suggests that either the wax model or the metal was cast in a two-piece mold. The flattened tip at the bottom is probably the location of a sprue removed after casting. There is no evidence of tool marks.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of David and Genevieve Hendin
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.844.26
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
This amulet consists of an almond shape, convex on the back, with a cleft in the center on one side and a small protuberance at the bottom (1). There is a suspension loop at the other end. This type of pendant is often thought to represent a shell or female genitalia. This type of amulet, while less common than the male variety, had similar apotropaic functions (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, inv. nos. 29-196-1 through 29-196-7; and M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 238, no. 349, an ornament with twelve similar pendants attached. See also N. Franken, “Die antiken Bronzen im Römisch-Germanischen Museum Köln: Die Fragmente von Grossbronzen und die figürlichen Bronzegeräte,” Kölner Jahrbuch 29 (1996): 7-203, esp. 181, no. 250, fig. 371; F. Jurgeit, Die etruskischen und italischen Bronzen sowie Gegenstände aus Eisen, Blei, und Leder im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Terra Italia 5 (Pisa, 1999) 635, no. 1118, pl. 288; and A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) nos. 290-91, pl. 88.

2. See S. Seligmann, Der böse Blick und Verwandtes: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Aberglaubens aller Zeiten und Völker (Berlin, 1910) 203-205; and M. Kohlert-Németh, Römische Bronzen 1: Aus Nida-Heddernheim, Götter und Dämonen, Archäologische Reihe 11 (Frankfurt am Main, 1988) 66-67.


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