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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.51
Title
Leech Fibula with Ring
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin, fibula
Date
early 7th-first half 6th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Orientalizing period to Archaic
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178187

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
Fibula: 1.2 x 3.2 x 0.5 cm (1/2 x 1 1/4 x 3/16 in.)
Ring: 2.1 cm (13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green with rust accretions; the rust may have been deposited by an iron object placed adjacent to the fibula during burial. The surface is pitted in many locations from corrosion.

The fibula was cast from a wax model, probably formed directly in the wax. The pin and catchplate sections were cold worked into shape from the cast metal on either side of the bow. Incised decorative lines on the bow section are very sharp in detail and were punched into the metal after casting. The attached ring is only 1.7 mm thick and has a slightly irregular surface; it was probably formed by hammering, although no join is visible on the corroded surface.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: Small tan label "Fi 6".

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
2012.1.51
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 very small leech fibula is made from one piece of metal; the spring has a triple coil, and the catchplate is long and thin. The bow is decorated with three small panels of linear incisions: two are horizontal grooves flanking a panel with vertical grooves (1). The fibula is fastened to a thin wire ring (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare H. Donder, Die Fibeln, Katalog der Sammlung antiker Kleinkunst des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg 3.2 (Mainz, 1994) 35, 38-39, and 63-70, nos. 19 and 36, pls. 4 and 7; and A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 242, nos. 429-30, pl. 102.

2. For another fibula with a decorative ring attached, see V. Palone, “Le fibule navicella,” in Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche 3: I bronzi della collezione Gorga, ed. M. G. Benedettini (Rome, 2012) 98-125, esp. 119, no. 370.

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), M71, p. 174 [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