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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.76
Title
Small Bracelet
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
bracelet
Date
8th-7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/175194

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
5.4 cm (2 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is a smooth light to dark green, with a bit of pitting and a few small chips along the edges. The bracelet was probably bent into shape from one long strip and shaped in the metal into a slightly uneven coil, as the spiral would probably have been too complex to cast.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2011)

Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: Small tan label "B2" on the interior.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (before 1970-2012), 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
2012.1.76
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
This small double-coiled bracelet was, if worn, possibly for a child. The shape was perhaps meant to represent a stylized snake: one of the terminals is slightly larger and almost head shaped (1). Incised zigzag patterning is visible on the exterior of the bracelet near the terminals.

A. M. Bietti Sestieri and E. Macnamara indicate that this type of coiled rod bracelet might be better described as a weight (2).

NOTES:

1. See C. Johns, The Jewellery of Roman Britain: Celtic and Classical Traditions (London, 1996) 44-45, on the typology of snake jewelry; and ibid., 109-10, on snake bracelets specifically.

2. Compare A. M. Bietti Sestieri and E. Macnamara, Prehistoric Metal Artefacts from Italy (3500-720 BC) in the British Museum (London, 2007) 20 and 196, Bracelet type 8, nos. 655-56.

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), M26, p. 164 [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