Harvard Art Museums > 1940.97.43: Wall Painting Fragment Fragments Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Wall Painting Fragment , 1940.97.43,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Nov 24, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/377836. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1940.97.43 Title Wall Painting Fragment Classification Fragments Work Type wall painting fragment(s) Date 160-250 CE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Dura-Europos (Syria) Period Roman Imperial period Culture Syrian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/377836 Location Location Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Pigment on Plaster Technique Painted Dimensions Irreg.: H. 3.3 × W. 6.6 × D. 1 cm (1 5/16 × 2 5/8 × 3/8 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Dura-Europos (near modern Salihiyeh, Syria), excavated [1]; by the Yale-French Excavations [2] (by 1937), gift; to Prentice Duell [3], Boston, MA, (by 1940), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1940. [1] The specific archaeological findspots (on the site) of the gifted wall painting fragments were not recorded (Letter, Clark Hopkins to Prentice Duell, June 9, 1940, Folder 13 ("Blue: Azurite"), Pigment File, Unspecified MS Box No. 3, Papers of Prentice Van Walbeck Duell, 1894-1960, Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA). [2] Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos (1928-1937), a collaboration between Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) and the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Paris), in agreement with the High Commission of the French Republic (French Mandate of Syria). A portion of excavated finds were distributed to Yale under partage agreements. [3] Given as samples of ancient wall painting under the auspices of Clark Hopkins (1895-1976), field director of Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos, 1931-1935, to Prentice Duell (1894-1960). Duell was an architect, archaeologist, and scholar of ancient painting. Duell worked on archaeological field projects in the US, Greece, and Egypt (Saqqara); he was a research fellow of Etruscan art at the Fogg Museum from 1939 to 1960. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Prentice Duell Accession Year 1940 Object Number 1940.97.43 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Pink-lavender and light brown-yellow pigment on white plaster. Light brown-yellow and pink-lavender zones. The fragment was examined and analyzed in the Straus Center in 2023. Ultraviolet-induced fluorescence imaging produced results consistent with madder lake pigment in the purple color; visible-induced luminescence imaging suggested a very small amount of Egyptian blue pigment in the purple color; and analysis via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) identified gypum in the white as well as gypsum and trace kaolin in the yellow color. The plaster was identified as gypsum plaster. Commentary This fragment of painted wall plaster is one of a group of wall painting fragments (1940.97.1-83) in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums that were excavated at the site of Dura-Europos by the Yale-French team between 1928 and 1937. Given as study samples of ancient painting and pigment to ancient painting scholar Prentice Duell, they were again given as samples of painting to the Fogg Museum in 1940. The ancient town of Dura-Europos is located today near the modern village of Salihiyeh, Syria. Located in the Middle Euphrates region (on the west bank of the Euphrates River), Dura-Europos is set between the Syrian steppe to the west and the Mesopotamian plain to the east. This location put it on the borderlands between empires, a zone contested over centuries. Founded under the Macedonian Greek Seleucid empire around 300 BCE, it subsequently passed between Parthian empire (by the late second or early 2nd century BCE), the Roman empire (by around 165 CE, after which it became a military garrison town), and the Sasanian empire (whose invasion in about 265 CE destroyed it). The small but cosmopolitan town is especially famous for figural wall paintings in its religious spaces, which include many temples to local and nonlocal gods, a Jewish synagogue, a Christian place of worship, and a Mithraeum (a shrine for the mystery cult of the god Mithras). Exhibition History 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/11/2023 - 06/01/2025 Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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
