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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1939.125
Title
Pin
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
pin
Date
1st Millennium CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Antioch (Syria)
Find Spot: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Roman Imperial period, Late, to Early Byzantine
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310623

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
14.1 cm, 0.3 cm, 0.2 cm (5 9/16 in., 1/8 in., 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The pin is intact. The patina is a rough black surface with some burial accretions. The surface is corroded and rough. One small area of smooth surface has survived. The pin was made by casting and hot working to form the shaft. The tapered shape was hammered from a rod. A 2-cm area at the center with diagonal grooves and a square section are the result of cold working.


Carol Snow and Henry Lie (submitted 2002, updated 2010)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Excavated from Antioch, sector 17-O (no. a-268-U530) (Turkey, Hatay) by the Syrian Department of Antiquities (later the Hatay government) and the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity, (1935-1939), dispersed; to Fogg Art Museum, 1939.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity
Accession Year
1939
Object Number
1939.125
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
The long, thin shaft of this plain pin is circular in section with a square, ridged finger-grip near the midpoint. The shaft is slightly bent. Both ends of the pin have been broken and are now blunt. Similar objects, classified as probes, are known from Olynthus (1).

NOTES:

1. See D. M. Robinson, Metal and Minor Miscellaneous Finds, an Original Contribution to Greek Life, Excavations at Olynthus 10 (Baltimore, 1941) nos. 1673-74.


David Smart

Exhibition History

  • Antioch-on-the-Orontes: Excavating an Early Byzantine City, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection, Washington, 04/07/2010 - 10/10/2010

Subjects and Contexts

  • Roman Domestic Art
  • 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