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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2003.20
Title
Circular Attachment with Stylized Dragon
Other Titles
Former Title: Circular Attachment with Rectangular Tang Extending from Top, Lion or Dragon facing right with traces of gilding on head and gold wires hammered into grooves on body, wings (?) and hind quarters
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
jewelry
Date
6th-7th century
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Middle Ages, Early
Culture
Anglo-Saxon
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/93547

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper, traces of gilding
Technique
Cast
Dimensions
3.8 x 2.7 x 0.2 cm (1 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1 and Tracer
Alloy: Copper
Alloying Elements: copper
Other Elements: lead, iron, silver, antimony, bismuth
Comment: Shiny areas retain mercury gilding with high levels of gold and mercury.

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The majority of the surface has a light olive green patina, which is covered with a thick layer of translucent light brown wax. This combination of materials is particularly built up on the back. There seems to be no deep-seated corrosion or cuprite below the green layer, which would be an indication of long-term burial. Black organic-looking material seems to have been painted along some of the inscribed decorations. It is uncertain whether the slight variation in the green color in the X-shape on the tang is significant.

The object could have been cast or cut out of sheet metal. There are two types of gilded areas: a fine layer on top of a number of the concave lines that seems to stand proud of much of the surrounding surface and flat polished areas that appear to have been ground down to the base metal. However, XRF analysis of the latter indicates the presence of significant gold and mercury, which are usually evidence of mercury gilding. Perhaps the gilding protected the underlying metal from corrosion, and this may account for the oddly misaligned surface. The fine lines appear to have been created with a thin straight-edged punch, and in a few areas, one can still make out the tool marks. The rippled texture on the gilded lines was created by the same punch to enhance the lines.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Joseph Linzalone, Wolfshead Gallery, Ridgewood, NJ, sold]; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 2003.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Mrs. Waltrud Lampé and the Marion H. Phinney Fund
Accession Year
2003
Object Number
2003.20
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 circular attachment joins a disc with gold-wire dragon decoration to a rectangular tang. A very regular circular hole pierces the middle of the disc. There is an irregular elliptical hole at the top of the disc and a more regular elliptical hole at the bottom of the tang. The disc is surrounded by a raised border, as is the tang. The tang has further geometric decoration. The disc bears a stylized animal, a dragon facing right. The front paw rests on the curve of the disc, the back just above the tang. The wings curl slightly in the field at the left. Further lines decorate the body of the dragon. The back is flat and featureless.

Although the three holes indicate that the object was meant to attach to something, its use is currently unclear.

Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • 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), p. 82

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