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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.12.32.A-B
Title
Fragmentary Tweezers
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Pair of Thin Strips (Tweezers?)
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
tweezer
Date
5th-7th century
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Sardis (Lydia)
Find Spot: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey), Western Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Roman Imperial period, Late, to Early Byzantine
Culture
Byzantine
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/101516

Physical Descriptions

Medium
1964.12.32.A: Leaded Bronze; 1964.12.32.B: Leaded Copper
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
Each element: 6.5 x 1.4 cm (2 9/16 x 9/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is heavily corroded with green and red corrosion products. The tweezers are broken at the top, and there are some losses around the break. The tweezers were fabricated by casting and hot working to shape them prior to finishing. The corroded surface does not show any tool marks.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Brought from Sardis; by Frederick Marquand Godwin, New York, (by 1914), by descent; to his wife Dorothy W. Godwin, New York (1914-1964), gift; to the Fogg Museum of Art, 1964.

Note: Frederick M. Godwin was the photographer for the excavations at Sardis with Howard Crosby Butler in 1913 and 1914.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Frederick M. Godwin
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.12.32.A-B
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
These two broken strips may have once joined to form a single instrument, likely tweezers. The finished ends of the strips are slightly wider than the broken ends, which would have formed a sharp bend and are still slightly curved (1).

In the ancient world, tweezers were used both as part of a surgeon’s kit and also as a standard cosmetic item for depilation (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare A. F. Ferrazzoli, “Byzantine Small Finds from Elaiussa Sebaste,” in Byzantine Small Finds in Archaeological Contexts, eds. B. Böhlendorf-Arslan and A. Ricci, BYZAS 15 (Istanbul, 2012) 289-307, esp. 295 and 306, no. 73, pl. 7; M. Garsson, ed., Une histoire d’alliage: Les bronzes antiques des réserves du Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne, exh. cat. (Marseille, 2004) 53, nos. 118-19; M. Kunze, Meisterwerke antiker Bronzen und Metallarbeiten aus der Sammlung Borowski 1: Griechische und römische Bronzen (Ruhpolding and Mainz, 2007) 57, no. G 72 (inv. no. GR 034B), dated to the eighth to seventh centuries BCE; and Los bronces romanos en España, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Palacio de Velazquez (Madrid, 1990) 305, no. 269 (far left).

2. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times (Oxford, 1907) 90-93; L. J. Bliquez, Roman Surgical Instruments and Other Minor Objects in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Mainz, 1994) 60; and P. M. Allison, The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii 3: The Finds (Oxford, 2006) 29.


David Smart and Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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