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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.216.1982
Title
Ladle with Handle Terminating in Two Ducks' Heads
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
ladle
Date
2nd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Hellenistic period
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/286974

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
overall: 28.5 x 8.1 x 8.2 cm (11 1/4 x 3 3/16 x 3 1/4 in.)
bowl: diam. 2.1 cm (13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 88.21; Sn, 11.36; Pb, 0.05; Zn, 0.006; Fe, 0.05; Ni, 0.01; Ag, 0.09; Sb, 0.1; As, 0.12; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is smooth green and black under thicker corrosion products and brown burial deposits. The bowl of the ladle exhibits evidence of losses and previous restorations. The ladle was cast with further shaping by hammering to the bowl, which is more corroded and has suffered losses.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Purchased in Rome, according to Classical Collection index card.
Transfer from the Department of the Classics, 1977.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Purchased in Rome
Accession Year
1977
Object Number
1977.216.1982
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 dual-headed ladle is less well preserved in its bowl than 1954.138 and lacks “wings” on the rim, but its features have nevertheless fared better than those of 1954.138. The handle splits into two ducks at its end, perhaps so that the ladle could be suspended from the rim of a wine krater or hung from a hook or peg on a wall, as seen in representations of ladles in red-figure vase painting (1).

This ladle would probably have been used in conjunction with a strainer, the customary implements used for serving wine (2).

NOTES:

1. See the symposium scene on the exterior of a red-figure kylix attributed to Makron in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 20.246, with a ladle and a strainer hanging from a stand between couches of celebrants; J. R. Mertens, How to Read Greek Vases (New York, 2010) 116-20, no. 23.

2. See D. K. Hill, “Wine Ladles and Strainers from Ancient Times,” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 5 (1942): 41-55.


Aimée F. Scorziello

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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