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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1928.183
Title
Conical Fenestrated Stand
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Censer from Nuzi Palace Chapel Room L2, Stratum II
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
stand
Date
15th-first half 14th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Nuzi (Mesopotamia)
Find Spot: Middle East, Iraq
Period
Mitannian period
Culture
Hurrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/311127

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
27.3 x 19.5 x 20.5 cm (10 3/4 x 7 11/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 89.86; Sn, 8.8; Pb, 0.53; Zn, 0.007; Fe, 0.31; Ni, 0.06; Ag, 0.01; Sb, less than 0.02; As, 0.35; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.073; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is light and very dark green. Records indicate the object was cleaned electrolytically, causing some of the surface to be rough, but many areas appear to be fairly well preserved and even show the texture from the manipulation of the wax model. Breaks are present on one side on the bottom edge. These have been glued and inpainted with only small amounts of fill material added. Two sections of copper plate have been pinned to the interior in this area to strengthen it. Three projections between the lions are lost.

The stand was cast using a direct lost-wax technique. A relatively crude sheet of wax appears to have been rolled and joined to itself to form a truncated cone. There is no visible remnant of this wax join. A separate strip of wax was added to the top edge to create the rim, and three similar but not identical wax lion figures were attached to the top. Between these, three projections (each 4 cm wide), which were possibly for supporting a vessel, have fractured off and are lost. The triangular holes on the sides were crudely cut out on the wax model. The cutting was done from the exterior of the vessel, which has left slight ridges on the interior from pushing the sharp tool through the soft wax.


Henry Lie (submitted 2007)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Excavated from Yorghan Tepe, Iraq; Original Field Catalogue #1114 (1927-1928 Metal Catalogue)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Harvard-Baghdad Expedition to Kirkuk
Accession Year
1928
Object Number
1928.183
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
This conical fenestrated stand is surmounted by three reclining lions, each with its tail curved over its back and pointing toward the inside of the stand. The traces of breaks in the spaces between the lions may be evidence that there was another element, perhaps a bowl, which was previously attached to the top and has broken off (1). The piece is exceptionally well-preserved considering its size and date.

This stand was the largest copper alloy object excavated at Nuzi and may have functioned as a censer or as the support of an offering vessel. This conical stand is an interesting precursor to the Late Bronze Age tripod stands used in the Ancient Near East, Cyprus and the Aegean (2). The use of lions to decorate the top of the stand is an early precursor to the bronze lions that decorate the rims of Archaic Greek cauldrons and other vessels (3).

NOTES:

1. See R. F. S. Starr, Nuzi: Report on the Excavation at Yorgan Tepa near Kirkuk, Iraq (Cambridge, MA, 1937-1939) 439, pl. 114.E.

2. See. T. M. Cross, Bronze Tripods and Related Stands in the Eastern Mediterranean from the Twelfth through the Seventh Centuries B.C. (Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1974).

3. See G. Bieg, Hochdorf 5: Der Bronzekessel aus dem späthallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Eberdingen-Hochdorf (Kr. Ludwigsburg), Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg 83 (Stuttgart 2002) 77-105.


Adam J. Aja and Seán Hemingway

Publication History

  • David Gordon Lyon, "The Joint Expedition of Harvard University and the Baghdad School at Yargon Tepa near Kirkuk", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Apr 1928), Vol. 30, 1-6, pp. 4-6, ill.
  • David Gordon Lyon, Paul J. Sachs, and Reverend George Aaron Barton, Kirkuk: Preliminary Report (Cambridge, MA, 1928), p. 10-11, fig. 14.
  • David Gordon Lyon, "Harvard Excavations in Iraq", Harvard Alumni Bulletin (1930), Vol. 32, No. 30, 865-72, p. 867.
  • Richard F. S. Starr, "Kirkuk Expedition", Fogg Art Museum Notes (1930), Vol. 2, No. 5, 182-97, p. 190, 194, (fig.).
  • Rutherford John Gettens, "The Restoration of Bronzes from Iraq", Fogg Art Museum Notes, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1931), Vol. 2, No. 6, 273-83., p. 273-78, figs. 1-2.
  • Fogg Art Museum Handbook, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1931), pp. 149-150, lower.
  • Richard F. S. Starr, Nuzi: Report on the Excavation at Yorgan Tepa near Kirkuk, Iraq, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1937-1939), p. 439, pl. 114.E.
  • Katherine Eremin and Josef Riederer, "Analytical Approaches to Ancient Bronzes", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 64-91, pp. 79-80, fig. 3.7.a-b.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 79-80, fig. 3.7a-b
  • Francesca Bewer, Katherine Eremin, and Angela Chang, Chemistry Revisited in a Laboratory for Art, Engaging Conservation: Collaboration Across Disciplines, ed. Nina Owczarek, Molly Gleeson, and Lynn Grant, Archetype Publications (London, UK, 2017), Pages 190-198, Figure 5, Page 194

Exhibition History

  • Nuzi and the Hurrians, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Cambridge, 04/01/1998 - 05/01/2008

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