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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.216.1988.A-B
Title
Strainer
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
strainer
Date
n.d.
Places
Creation Place: Unidentified Region
Period
Modern
Culture
Unidentified culture
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/281337

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
18.3 x 9.1 cm (7 3/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Point 1 (handle): Cu, 76.66; Sn, 6.72; Pb, 16.23; Zn, 0.004; Fe, 0.01; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.08; As, 0.15; Bi, 0.029; Co, 0.025; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The exposed surface is bare metal with some areas of a thin brown patina, such as on the interior of the rim of the strainer, and a few isolated patches of green corrosion products. The surface does not appear to have been stripped. The thin metal is very well preserved; some deformations and stress cracking is evident. There is nothing ancient evident about this strainer.

The bowl was formed by hammering sheet metal into shape. Circular lines were inscribed on the interior of the bowl as guides for the punched holes. Lines were also inscribed in the center of the exterior to make a polygonal shape prior to punching the holes. The holes seem to have been punched first from the interior out, then from the exterior in, and then bored out to remove most of the excess metal within the holes. Further finishing of the edges of the holes was done on the exterior, which shows flattened metal around the holes as well as tool marks around some of the holes.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
1977
Object Number
1977.216.1988.A-B
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
This strainer, likely a pastiche, is in two parts: a bowl and a rim with a handle. The mushroom-shaped bowl (5.7 cm in diameter x 2.5 cm high) is unlikely to be an antiquity, and it is possible that it was made specifically for this object. The holes in the dome of the bowl are very regular, creating six progressively larger concentric circles around the central point. The holes are larger (c. 1 to 1.5 mm in diameter) than those in the authentic strainer in the Harvard collection, 2012.1.58. The separate rim of the strainer (9.2 cm in diameter x 2 cm high) is in poor condition. It appears to be plain except for two 1-mm thick raised bands on the edge of the interior. The elaborately molded handle was made separately and later attached. It may have originally belonged to an Etruscan mirror (1). There are three molded leaves at the point where it attaches to the rim; the uppermost leaf is triangular, while the other two curve out like volutes to the side. Below the leaves is a shape almost like a column capital, surrounded by a row of dots. The remainder of the handle is decorated with two beads, bordered by raised beaded bands. The terminal is in the shape of an animal’s head, with eyes on the sides of the head, small ears on top, and a long snout ending in a bulbous nose (2).

NOTES:

1. Identified by B. von Freitag and R. De Puma. According to a note in the object file, De Puma suggested that the handle could date to the third to second centuries BCE. For similar mirror handles, see S. Boucher, Bronzes grecs, hellénistiques et étrusques (sardes, ibériques et celtiques) des musées de Lyon, Collections des musées de Lyon 9 (Lyon, 1970) 129, no. 136; M. Tombolani, Bronzi figurati etruschi italici paleoveneti e romani del Museo Provinciale di Torcello (Rome, 1981) 46, no. 23; and R. M. Asensi Estruch, Inventari dels materials etruscs procedents del colleccions dels museus catalans (Barcelona, 2011) 19-21, nos. 6-8.

2. Compare the terminal of 1977.216.2311.


Lisa M. Anderson

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