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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.8
Title
Lock Bolt
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
lock
Date
1st-2nd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178518

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
1.3 x 0.6 x 4.8 cm (1/2 x 1/4 x 1 7/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green with spots of red and black; brown burial accretions are present. Both ends are slightly irregular, but corrosion and wear makes it difficult to be certain that these are the original ends or if there has been some fracture or loss.

The wax model for this lock bolt was probably worked directly, with the shape and openwork cut into a thick, flat slab of wax.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Walton Brooks McDaniel, New Jersey (?-1943/46), gift; to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University (1943/46-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Note: Walton Brooks McDaniel gave a portion of his collection to the Department of the Classics in 1943 and the rest in 1946. The Collection is named for his late wife, Alice Corinne McDaniel.

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
2012.1.8
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 lock bolt is for a tumbler lock. The plate of the bolt is perforated with five interlocking triangles. A bar of metal protrudes out of either side of the plate: one is square in section (it is possibly broken) and the other is longer with a flat, rectangular section (1).

NOTES:

1. Lock bolts of this shape are not uncommon; see British Museum, London, inv. no. 1856,1226.810; M. Kohlert-Németh, Archäologische Reihe Römische Bronzen aus Nida-Heddernheim 2: Fundsachen aus dem Hausrat (Frankfurt, 1990) 26-27, no. 6.3; and Los bronces romanos en España, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Palacio de Velazquez (Madrid, 1990) 271, no. 204.

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), M57, p. 170 [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