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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.38
Title
Boar-Shaped Vessel Attachment or Mount
Other Titles
Former Title: Boar/Griffin Pendant
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
foot
Date
1st-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178405

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
4.3 cm (1 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The remains of burial material lie over a reddish-brown cupritic surface in some areas, such as the inside of the proper right leg. Brown metal surface is exposed in a few of the more worn areas. Grayish remains, perhaps from burial material, are also on the inner surface of the recess on the back. The piece was also coated with wax, which has saturated the green and black corrosion products. It is not clear whether the front right leg was bent intentionally. There seems to be a small crack on the outside of the proper left leg.

The attachment was cast in one piece, probably by the lost-wax process given the fine undercut detailing of the ears and the recess inside the head. The modeling is good quality. A round hole, which was formed in the wax, cuts through the mouth and would have held a ring. The point of the upper tip appears to have been broken. How much chasing was done originally is difficult to ascertain, as the object was scraped relatively smooth of corrosion accretions as part of a post-excavation cleaning.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (before 1959-2012) 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
2012.1.38
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 attachment or mount is in the form of the foreparts of a boar (1). The boar has triangular, pointed ears, round jowls, and a snout with two circular incisions to indicate nostrils. The animal has a high, thin crest that curves into a slight hook on the back. The boar's stylized forelegs are also present, but there is no indication of hooves. Where the boar's tusks would be, the snout is drilled through, probably for insertion of a decorative ring. The back of the boar's head is open and hollow—two spurs of metal formed by the terminus of the crest and the beginnings of a torso stick out and would have had contact with the main object, perhaps a vessel, to which the boar protome would have been attached (2).

NOTES:

1. Five similar objects are recorded in the UK: British Museum, London, inv. no. 1814,0704.290; Museum of London, inv. no. A2403; an unnumbered piece in the Aldborough Museum; and examples recorded by the Britain’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, inv. nos. LIN-D4C887 and NMGW-2FC205. See Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. no. Fr. 2328; and Tiere und Mischwesen 3, Jean-David Cahn Gallery, Katalog 15 (Basel, 2003) lot 77, a silver piece described as the protome for an amulet of a yoke attachment and dated to the third to first centuries BCE.

2. For a discussion of the artifact type, see J. Foster, Bronze Boar Figurines in Iron Age and Roman Britain, BAR Brit. Ser. 39 (Oxford, 1977) 21 and 32-33, nos. 16-18, fig. 11, pls. 10-11.

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), M148, p. 197 [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