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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.105
Title
Tutulus Fibula
Other Titles
Former Title: Copper-Silver Alloy Brooch
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin, fibula
Date
2nd-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/57703

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper-silver alloy, gilded tip
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.3 x 4.8 cm (7/8 x 1 7/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Copper-Silver Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, silver
Other Elements: lead, gold
Comments: The ball at the tip of the cone retains traces of gilding.
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The surface is white metal with areas of green and red. Some areas are deeply mineralized. The clean metallic surfaces, the lack of a layer of green corrosion, and the survival of lumps of red, probably cuprite, may indicate that the object was cleaned electrolytically, which removed any green corrosion. The bright green corrosion products on the back look more superficial and recent, and these could be the result of residues acting on the surface after this treatment.

The flat star-shape and the projecting conical section were cast as a single piece. The wax model for this component may have been shaped indirectly using a mold. The beaded bands, decorative balls, and pin components all appear to be soldered in place with a hard solder. The silver color of the surfaces, including some on the back, is probably the result of a wash of silver over the copper alloy substrate. The slightly reddish tint in some areas could be the copper alloy surface emerging through the wash. Two wire loop fasteners are soldered to two of the projecting point, and a portion of an attachment wire is trapped in one of them. The beaded bands appear to be strips of wire pressed into a form or other device to create the appearance of small beads. Two of the large circular strips surrounding the conical section are straight wires with no beading.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
{Hesperia Art, Philadelphia, PA] (1969), sold; to the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (1969-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums 2012.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.105
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
At the center of this tutulus fibula is a protruding conical shape that is hollow on the underside and ends with a spherical knob at the point (1). Around the central design are two raised circles with a beaded circle between them. The circular portion of the disc is surrounded by a scalloped edge with ten ray-shaped points. Each of the rays ends in a small sphere, and the edge has a beaded border. Wire appliqués are attached to the back of two adjacent rays, forming voluted eyes that may have been used to attach the brooch to a chain or another piece of jewelry. The hinged pin is intact. The fibula was made of a shiny copper-silver alloy, and the central knob was gilded.

NOTES:

1. Compare M. Feugère, Les fibules en Gaule méridionale de la conquête à la fin du Ve s. ap. J.-C., Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise Suppl. 12 (Paris, 1985) 351-56 (type 25), pl. 148; R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 385, no. 1431, fig. 126; I. Fauduet, Fibules préromaines, romaines et mérovingiennes du Musée du Louvre, Études d’histoire et d’archéologie 5 (Paris, 1999) 25 and 57, no. 120, pl. 16; and L. Cocciantelli, “Le fibule in di età imperiale ed alto medievale (I-VII secolo D.C.),” in Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche 3: I bronzi della collezione Gorga, ed. M. G. Benedettini (Rome, 2012) 207-26, esp. 208, no. 579, pl. 36.

Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), M194, p. 213 [J. S. Crawford]

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