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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2023.501.11
Title
Finial in the Shape of a Reclining Winged Horse
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin
Date
10th-8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Luristan (Iran)
Find Spot: Middle East, Iran, Western Iran
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303594

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper-tin-antimony alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
3.8 x 5.6 x 1.7 cm (1 1/2 x 2 3/16 x 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1 and Tracer
Alloy: Mixed Copper Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, antimony
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, silver, arsenic

K. Eremin, January 2014

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Copper-Tin-Antimony Alloy:
Cu, 87.22; Sn, 1.33; Pb, 0.43; Zn, 0.09; Fe, 0.67; Ni, 0.27; Ag, 0.08; Sb, 8.08; As, 1.53; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.299; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is green with brown burial accretions and patches of blue. There are scattered spots of rust accretions. Several areas of the surface are well preserved, but most are obscured by corrosion products and accretions. The iron pin is corroded and lost; its only remnants are the rust and rust staining at the pin’s insertion point and on the horse’s face. The green and blue corrosion layers obscure most surface detail.

The quadruped is a solid cast. Its soft and somewhat irregular shapes point to a model made directly in wax. A hammer and elongated punches were used to make decorations at the ears and along the bottom edge. Facial features and decorations in the horse trappings appear to have been punched into the metal. Judging from the iron corrosion products, the hole for the pin at the horse’s hindquarters measures c. 4 mm in diameter.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Kurt H. Weil, Montclair, NJ (1927-1992), by descent; to Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, New York (1992-2023), gift; to the Harvard Art Museums.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt
Accession Year
2023
Object Number
2023.501.11
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Katherine Eremin and Josef Riederer, "Analytical Approaches to Ancient Bronzes", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 64-91, pp. 74-75, fig. 3.4.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), p. 74, fig. 3.4

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