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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.3
Title
Key in Form of Finger Ring
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
key
Date
1st-2nd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/186624

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.5 x 2.4 cm (1 x 15/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is green with spots of red. There are extensive crusty gray burial accretions, which obscure the surface and make it very rough.

The key was cast from a wax model that was probably made directly in the wax. The notches in the key appear to be precise shapes and were probably cut or at least finished in the metal. The hole in the end of the shaft of the key is obscured by burial accretions; it is not clear if it was cast or drilled.


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
2012.1.3
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The interior of the hoop is round, while the exterior has one side (attached to the cylinder and near the teeth) that is squared. The key and hoop are formed separately and soldered together, with the blade of the key attached perpendicularly to the hoop. The hoop sticks out much more prominently where the key is attached. The blade is formed of a hollow cylinder (attached to the hoop) with two teeth attached. The teeth project away from the hoop.

Small finger-ring keys of this sort worked on rotary locks for boxes; wearing the key as a ring made the key more secure (1).

NOTES:

1. See C. Johns, The Jewellery of Roman Britain: Celtic and Classical Traditions (London, 1996) 55-56. Compare M. Kohlert-Németh, Archäologische Reihe Römische Bronzen aus Nida-Heddernheim 2: Fundsachen aus dem Hausrat (Frankfurt, 1990) 28, no. 7.


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), M38, p. 166 [J. S. Crawford]

Subjects and Contexts

  • Roman Domestic Art
  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

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