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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.256.134.A
Title
Finger Cymbal
Classification
Musical Instruments
Work Type
musical instrument
Date
1st-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304598

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
1 x 5 x 5 cm (3/8 x 1 15/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, zinc, iron, silver, antimony
Comments: 1992.256.134.A and 1992.256.134.B have the same elements.
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina of the two cymbal components (1992.256.134.A and 1992.256.134.B) features tan burial deposits over bluish-green, brown, and black corrosion with a few areas of metal exposed. Iron corrosion covers much of interior surfaces and some of the exterior surfaces. 1992.256.134.B has fibrous pseudomorphs preserved in the bronze corrosion near the top. The discs of the cymbals are intact, but the iron attachments have preferentially corroded into largely amorphous lumps.

The discs were fabricated by hammering to form the raised domes and outer edges. Turn lines, engraved on a lathe, are evident on the exterior surfaces of both discs. An irregular pattern of straight lines is scratched in the surface and visible under the corrosion on 1992.256.134.B. That disc also preserves more of the iron attachment that went through hole in the tops of the disc and seems to consist of a ring-like structure on the underside around the central rod, which protrudes through the top.


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
1992.256.134.A
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
Although 1992.256.134.A and 1992.256.134.B are of a similar diameter, they vary in overall shape, with 1992.256.134.A having a taller, more pronounced circular dome with a well-defined valley between the dome and uplifted edge. 1992.256.134.B has a lower dome and less of a valley between the dome and the uplifted edge. The underside of each bears faint traces of concentric circles. The center of each object is pierced by an iron rivet that would have affixed it to a wooden handle, if it functioned as a clapper, or to a ring, if it functioned as a finger cymbal (1). The instruments could have been used in secular or religious contexts, for instance in celebration of Artemis or Cybele, among others (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare examples in M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 428-29, nos. 620 (clappers) and 622 (finger cymbals). See also the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. nos. 10.130.1351-58.

2. For Artemis, see, for example, A. Villing, “For Whom Did the Bell Toll in Ancient Greece? Archaic and Classical Greek Bells at Sparta and Beyond,” Annual of the British School at Athens 97 (2002): 223-95, esp. 288-89 (Artemis). For Cybele, see, for example, R. Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire; trans. A. Nevill (Malden, MA, 1996) 53-54; E. Metropoulou, “The Goddess Cybele in Funerary Banquets and with an Equestrian Hero,” in Cybele, Attis and Related Cults: Essays in Memory of M. J. Vermaseren, ed. E. N. Lane (Leiden, 1996) 135-67, esp. 151-54.

Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

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