From the Harvard Art Museums’ collections Hairpin with Decorated Top

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1978.495.114
Title: Hairpin with Decorated Top
Classification: Tools and Equipment
Work Type: needle
Date: 300-400 CE
Places: Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period: Roman Imperial period, Late
Culture: Roman
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/174358

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Bone
Technique: Carved
Dimensions: 9.3 cm (3 11/16 in.)

Provenance

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, transfer; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1978.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
Accession Year: 1978
Object Number: 1978.495.114
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu; 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: This carved, bone hairpin is in two pieces--a bulbous head and tapered shaft. Incised geometric designs cover the surface. On the shaft, are a series of three rings and a cross hatch of oblique lines. On the head, are a pattern of crosshatch and a series of three bands, forming a spiral pattern.
Commentary: Hairpins such as this were used by women of the elite classes to secure their elaborate coiffures. Pins were made of different materials including bone, ivory, and precious metals and were often decorated with elaborate designs including images of women with intricate hairstyles, the goddess Aphrodite, or Isis--both figures associated with women (1). Other examples, such as this, displayed decorative motifs.

Notes:
1. For a hairpin fragment displaying the elaborate hairstyle for which it was designed see an example in Dumbarton Oaks Collection, inv. 47.1, in Ioli Kalavrezou, Byzantine Women and their World (Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, 2003). p. 258-259, no. 149.

Publication History

Ioli Kalavrezou, Byzantine Women and Their World, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2003), p. 259/fig. 151

Exhibition History

Byzantine Women and Their World, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/25/2002 - 04/28/2003

Subjects and Contexts

Roman Domestic Art

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