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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.256.113
Title
Tweezers
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
tweezer
Date
3rd-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304525

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
5.6 x 0.8 cm (2 3/16 x 5/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green, red, and black with encrustations. A loss of surface detail has occurred, and an iron strip inside the tweezers is missing an end.

The object was cast and hot worked to shape the tweezers. Surface designs were engraved. A fragment of an iron strip of metal is held mechanically inside the tweezers by a copper alloy pin with its outer ends hammered over to make a rivet.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Louise M. and George E. Bates, Camden, ME (by 1971-1992), gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1992.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Louise M. and George E. Bates
Accession Year
1992
Object Number
1992.256.113
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
The tweezers are formed from a copper alloy strip that is bent, creating a loop at the apex. The strips below the loop are roughly triangular, with somewhat more elaborate decoration directly below the loop and some incised geometric decoration on the exterior surfaces (1). The tweezers end in rounded points. An iron strip runs half way down the length from the apex on the inside of the tweezers.

In the ancient world, tweezers were used both as part of a surgeon’s kit and also as a standard cosmetic item for depilation (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare with longer instrument from Roman Egypt called forceps (perhaps artery forceps) in V. Moller-Christensen, The History of Forceps: An Investigation on the Occurrence, Evolution, and Use of the Forceps from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day (Copenhagen, 1938) 139, fig. 200. See also R. Jackson, “A Set of Roman Medical Instruments from Italy,” Britannia 17 (1986): 119-167, esp. 122-23, nos. 10-11, fig. 1.

2. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times (Oxford, 1907) 90-93; L. J. Bliquez, Roman Surgical Instruments and Other Minor Objects in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Mainz, 1994) 60; and P. M. Allison, The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii 3: The Finds (Oxford, 2006) 29.


David Smart

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Roman Domestic Art

Related Works

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