Your Collection

Add this item to your collection
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.40
Title
Trumpet Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
1st-2nd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310613

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5 x 2.5 x 0.6 cm (1 15/16 x 1 x 1/4 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 80; Sn, 9.7; Pb, 8.73; Zn, 0.959; Fe, 0.21; Ni, 0.05; Ag, 0.2; Sb, 0.15; As, less than 0.10; 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 fibula has an uneven green and gray surface. The pin is missing, and the headloop is missing from the top of the fibula. The bow was made by casting, and the clasp was hammered. The pin broke off at the hammered wire coil, which is wrapped around a transverse rod.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, no. E-2266.

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
1978.495.40
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The oval head of this fibula was decorated by a wire loop that is now broken (1). The pin is also missing, broken at the spring. A raised circular stud with a raised central point decorate the top of the bow, and the end of the catchplate is modeled into a pointed knob (2).

A chain would have gone through the loop at the head of the fibula to connect it with another fibula so that it could have been worn as part of a pair.

NOTES:

1. Compare R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 124-38, esp. no. 950, fig. 42; S. Ortisi, Die früh- und mittelkaiserzeitlichen Fibeln, Römische Kleinfunde aus Burghofe 2 (Rahden, 2002) 34, no. 282, pl. 17; and D. Mackreth, Brooches in late Iron Age and Roman Britain (Oxford, 2011) 120-21, nos. 5171 and 5288, pl. 82.

2. The stud is similar to those that appear on headstud fibulae, although the placement differs; see Mackreath 2011 (supra 1) 111, no. 5665, pl. 76.

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