Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.62
Title
Swinging Handle
Other Titles
Alternate Title: jewelry piece or furniture handle part Jewelry Piece
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
handle
Date
1st-3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310700

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10.5 x 10.2 cm (4 1/8 x 4 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green over a thick layer of red. The handle is deeply mineralized, and there is pitting in many areas. The tip of one terminal is lost. The handle appears to have been cast in its current shape, without the aid of additional forming or decoration after casting.


Henry Lie (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University.

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
1978.495.62
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
One terminal of this omega-shaped swing handle is intact, and the other is missing. The intact terminal is a small sphere with a torus. The majority of the handle is square in section, tapering toward the terminals where it is circular in section. This handle may have belonged to a small balsamarium (1). The handles attached to loops on the body of the vessel itself and were used for suspension (2).

NOTES:

1. Such as those in A. Koster, The Bronze Vessels 2: Acquisitions 1954-1996, Collections in the Provinciaal Museum G. M. Kam at Nijmegen 13 (Gelderland, 1997) 82-84, nos. 110-13.

2. Compare 1920.44.175.

Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

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