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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.844.14
Title
Strap Distributor with Phallic Strap Ends
Classification
Riding Equipment
Work Type
riding equipment
Date
1st-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304365

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
Group: 11.6 cm (4 9/16 in.)
Each element: 5 cm (1 15/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 90.54; Sn, 8.5; Pb, 0.31; Zn, 0.24; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.15; Sb, less than 0.05; As, 0.21; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is green with areas of black and preserved bright metal. The surface is well preserved. Six of nine rivets are intact.

All three phallic elements are fairly identical and were probably cast from wax models made in the same mold. Their surfaces are smooth and appear to have been burnished. The ring connecting the three is cold worked. Small pieces of copper alloy sheet (0.5 mm thick) have survived on two of the rivets. These might have helped hold a more fragile material behind the phallic elements, such as a leather rein. The gap to the metal sheet would accommodate leather that was c. 2 mm thick.


Henry Lie (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
1995.844.14
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 strap distributor, which would have been a component of a horse’s trappings, has three phallic-shaped strap ends around a central ring (1). All three strap ends are very stylized; the head is mushroom-shaped, while the testicles are semicircular protrusions on each side. The middle of each strap end is thicker than the edges. Three rivets, one through each testicle and the head, were used per strap end to attach it to a leather strap; six of the original nine rivets are still present. Each strap end terminates in a thick loop by which it attaches to the central ring.

Phallic elements were common decorative elements on a variety of objects, from horse trappings to lamps (2). Their symbolism provided them with an apotropaic, protective function (3).

NOTES:

1. For less elaborate examples, compare B. Borell, Statuetten, Gefässe und andere Gegenstände aus Metall, Katalog der Sammlung antiker Kleinkunst des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg 3.1 (Mainz, 1989) 155, no. 183, pl. 57; M. Schleiermacher, “Wagenbronzen und Pferdegeschirr im Römisch-Germanischen Museum Köln,” Kölner Jahrbüch 29 (1996): 205-95, esp. 282 and 284-87, nos. 176 and 178-82, figs. 97.t and 99.a-d; and E. Deschler-Erb, Ad arma! Römisches Militär des 1. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. in Augusta Raurica, Forschungen in Augst 28 (Augst, 1999) 60-62, fig. 62 (left).

2. P. M. Allison, The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii 3: The Finds (Oxford, 2006) 33. For lamps, see L. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, ed., Il bronzo dei Romani: Arredo e suppellettile (Rome, 1990) 190 and 270, no. 55, figs. 161-62, where a triple amulet is part of an elaborate hanging lamp, which also includes several bells and an ithyphallic figurine.

3. 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