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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.38
Title
Crossbow Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
second half 4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period, Late
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310783

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Mixed copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
3 x 4.7 x 7.2 cm (1 3/16 x 1 7/8 x 2 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Mixed Copper Alloy:
Cu, 84.08; Sn, 3.89; Pb, 4.27; Zn, 7.17; Fe, 0.22; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.07; Sb, 0.23; 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 patina is brownish black with some pale green and reddish brown on top of the black. There is also black in the areas of low relief and in the decoration. The pin has broken off at the crossbar, and a central knob is missing. There are gouge marks in the surface near the top.

The body of the fibula was cast, probably by the lost-wax process, with the surface designs created in the wax model, while the pin was made separately by hammering. The central knob, which is missing, would have been cast separately and joined mechanically. The flat end of the pin is held in the body of the fibula by a thin copper alloy rod, which seems to have been inserted in a small hole in the top next to the pin attachment. It may have been a repair after the original rod broke. The knobs on the ends of the crossbar seem to be hollow, and either plugs or the ends of the thin rod protrude out of the crossbar. The clasp was hammered over. The surface shows rough finishing marks.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, no. E-2259.

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
1978.495.38
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 remaining knobs of this fibula are in the shape of flattened spheres with raised central points; the head knob is missing (1). The knobs may have been made separately and attached; beaded borders separate the extant knobs from the crossbar. The crossbar is rectangular in section and pierced twice. It is decorated on the top by a series of raised beaded bands. The separately made pin (now missing) was attached to the fibula by a hinge that was secured to a wire rod inserted through the crossbar. The bow of this example is decorated with a row of incised circles separated by lines; additional molded collars are present at the juncture of the bow with the catchplate. The row of incised circles separated by lines is repeated on the catchplate with a line of incuse circles separated by thin notches on either side.

Crossbow fibulae were used in the Roman world from the third through sixth centuries CE (2). The distinctive fasteners, often decorated with prominent onion-shaped knobs, may have been status symbols, as indicated by examples in gold and the famous relief of the fourth-century Roman general Stilicho in Mantua, where crossbow fibulae are clearly rendered on the shoulders of the general and his son (3). Some examples were gilt hollow copper alloy—giving the illusion of the prestigious material without being as expensive or heavy (4).

NOTES:

1. Compare E. Keller, Die spätrömischen Grabfunde in Südbayern, Münchner Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 14 (Munich, 1971) 38-41 (type 4), fig. 12; S. Schmid, Die römischen Fibeln aus Wien (Vienna, 2010) 48 and 118-19, nos. 265-67, pl. 33.

2. See R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 282-88; B. Deppert-Lippitz, “A Late Antique Crossbow Fibula in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 35 (2000): 39-70; and P. Dandridge, “Idiomatic and Mainstream: The Technical Vocabulary of a Late Roman Crossbow Fibula,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 35 (2000): 71-86.

3. See P. von Rummel, Habitus barbarus: Kleidung und Repräsentation spätantiker Eliten im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 2007) 206-13, fig. 12.

4. 1978.495.37 may be an example of one of these.

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