Two jagged shapes
1991.39 and 1991.40 Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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1991.39 and 1991.40 Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Two shapes which have been placed together, one above and one below, as if parts of a whole which is now broken. They are both around the same size, but entirely different shapes as the edges are uneven and jagged. There are several faintly visible carvings which appear to be two circular shapes on the top fragment and two symmetrical arches on the lower part. There are also a few faint carved symbols made of straight lines in the center of the upper portion. The surface of both is mottled brown and green patina.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1991.40
Title
Breastplate Fragment
Classification
Armor
Work Type
armor
Date
second half 7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Crete
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/311860

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
1991.40 alone: 22.6 x 29.1 x 6.2 x 0.1 cm (8 7/8 x 11 7/16 x 2 7/16)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: iron, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is green with small areas of reddish yellow in some pits. Corrosion has created a very rough texture over most areas

The sheet was probably formed by hammering, and a number of broad hammer-like impressions are visible in the x-radiograph. The incised double line decoration was created by working both sides of the sheet to achieve added relief. The surface at these lines is very corroded, but no hammer marks are visible there on the surface or in the x-radiograph. They may have been created by repeatedly pushing or drawing a smooth-pointed tool along the surface.


Henry Lie (submitted 2000)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
From Afrati. Ex Norbert Schimmel Collection.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Schimmel Foundation, Inc.
Accession Year
1991
Object Number
1991.40
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 irregularly shaped breastplate fragment was for the front of the torso. A stylized depiction of the musculature is incised in double lines. A curving double line near the top of the preserved piece outlines the pectoral muscle, and the decorative elements seem to be continued on 1991.39.

Harvard’s Cretan armor is part of a larger cache, portions of which are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Many of the other pieces in the group are highly decorated with incised and repoussé images. The objects do not appear to have been part of a dedication to a deity, given the inscriptions found on the pieces. Fourteen pieces of armor from the cache bear dedicatory inscriptions, naming several different warriors, and these seem to indicate that the group of armor was captured in battle and dedicated together as a group (1). It has also been suggested, however, that they perhaps were used for a war dance rather than for combat (2).

H. Hoffman noted that all the breastplates in the Afrati hoard seemed to be a Cretan variant of the bell cuirass that was standard in the Archaic period, which had front and back plates bearing stylized anatomical details (3).

NOTES:

1. See H. Hoffmann and A. E. Raubitschek, Early Cretan Armorers (Mainz, 1972) 15-16.

2. For a discussion of this armor cache being used for a war dance, see E. Simon, “Die Waffen von Arkades: Ausrüstung für die Pyrrhiche,” Anodos: Studies of the Ancient World 4-5 (2004-2005): 231-42, esp. 239-41; and M. Lesky, “4.b. Dance, G: Waffentänze in der griechischen und etruskischen Antike,” Thesaurus Cultus Et Rituum Antiquorum 2: 314-17.

3. See Hoffmann and Raubitschek 1972 (supra 1) 6-7.


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Suzannah F. Doeringer, David Gordon Mitten, and Arthur Steinberg, ed., Art and Technology: A Symposium on Classical Bronzes, M.I.T. Press (Cambridge, MA, 1970), p. 136, no. C6.
  • Herbert D. Hoffmann and A.E. Raubitschek, Early Cretan Armorers, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), p. 9, no. C6, pl. 27.1.

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