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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.43
Title
Shell
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Scallop Shell Weight
Classification
Measuring Devices
Work Type
weight
Date
3rd century BCE-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Hellenistic period to Early Roman Imperial
Culture
Graeco-Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304356

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
1.2 x 3.1 x 3 cm (1/2 x 1 1/4 x 1 3/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 72.96; Sn, 5; Pb, 21.77; Zn, 0.029; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.1; Sb, 0.08; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is green with gray accretions, the latter of which are possibly from burial and are especially prominent in the relief crevices. There are broad areas of abrasion that cut into bare metal at both front and back surfaces. The surface is very worn, especially on the top.

The shell is solid cast. The groove decorations appear to have been made in the wax model rather than carved in the bronze. A shallow depression at the back and two small flaws appear accidental rather than related to any form of attachment system.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, no. E-2198.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
Accession Year
1978
Object Number
1978.495.43
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
This object represents half of a bivalve mollusk of asymmetrical form with fifteen pronounced radial ridges. Only the exterior of the shell is articulated. The shell is solid with a flat bottom. While this shell could be a votive object (1), an appliqué, or even the foot of a vessel, its solid form is best explained as a weight. Figural weights are attested in Greek and Roman times, the knucklebone being perhaps the best-documented type (2).

NOTES:

1. On the multivalent significance of the related scallop shell in Graeco-Roman antiquity, see M. Wheeler, “A Symbol in Ancient Times,” in The Scallop: Studies of a Shell and its Influences on Humankind, ed. I. Cox (London, 1957) 34-48.

2. Two monographs have been devoted to archaeological excavated weights of the Greek period: M. Lang and M. Crosby, The Athenian Agora 10: Weights, Measures and Tokens (Princeton, 1964) and K. Hintzl, Die Gewichte Griechischer Zeit aus Olympia, Olympische Forschungen 25 (Berlin, 1996). E. Pernice’s Griechische Gewichte (Berlin, 1894), although an early study, remains a fundamental reference with its catalogue of over 900 examples of Greek weights. For a general discussion of Graeco-Roman weights, see also B. Kisch, Scales and Weights: A Historical Outline (New Haven and London, 1965) 97, 113-21, and 147-54.


Seán Hemingway

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