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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.480
Title
Bird Pendant
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pendant
Date
second half 8th century BCE or modern
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Northern Greece
Period
Geometric period, Late
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303749

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brass
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
h. 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Brass:
Cu, 90.62; Sn, 1.3; Pb, 0.7; Zn, 5.86; Fe, 1.17; Ni, 0.05; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.07; As, 0.17; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, 0.004

J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Mixed Copper Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, zinc
Other Elements: lead, iron, antimony, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is brown with green and an orange-brown false surface, which is soluble in acetone. The object is sound. The solid-cast bird pendant is a modern fabrication with no authentic corrosion.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
David M. Robinson, Baltimore, MD, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1960.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.480
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
Bird pendants 1950.138 and 1960.480 represent a numerous and varied class of bronze votive statuettes made and dedicated in sanctuaries throughout the southern Balkans and northern Greece, including Macedonia and Thessaly, during the eighth century BCE and perhaps later (1). The smaller pendant (1950.138) has a rounded tail and thin legs with feet bending forward. Its head bends downward and is marked by low pellet-shaped eyes. The larger, more abstract bird’s neck and body meet almost at ninety degrees (1960.480). The body thins out into a flattened tail, whose tip is missing. Its legs are simply small stubs, the tips of which are bent forward. Its long neck intersects a pointed head at a ninety-degree angle. One small pellet eye is visible at the back of the right side of the head. Both birds have loops projecting from the middle of their backs. 1950.138 has a perforation in the middle of a projection, and 1960.480 features an oval loop with an oval perforation rising from a tab-like projection.

Both birds are designed in such a way that they balance evenly when suspended. They and many other similar examples, which appear to have included a variety of fowl, both wild and domesticated, may have been hung from the branches of trees as votive gifts in outdoor sanctuaries. They might somehow be related to Artemis, nurturer and protector of the flocks of water birds that throng the rivers, lakes, and marshes of northern Greece.

Recent laboratory examination in the Straus Center has revealed that this pendant has an artificial patina that is green with orange and brown areas and is soluble in acetone. This suggests either that this pendant is a recent forgery, or that it is an ancient object that has been stripped and repatinated.

NOTES:

1. See I. Kilian-Dirlmeier, Anhänger in Griechenland von der mykenischen bis zur spätgeometrischen Zeit, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 11.2 (Munich, 1979) 144-47, nos. 811-34, pl. 46; and J. Bouzek, Graeco-Macedonian Bronzes (Prague, 1974) 14-16, figs. 1, 3, 6, and 9. For Geometric birds in general, see J.-L. Zimmermann, “Oiseaux géométrique de Grèce central et septentrionale,” Numismatica e Antichità Classiche (Quaderni Ticinesi) 17 (1988): 37-53. Compare also C. Rolley, Monuments figurés: Les statuettes de bronze, Fouilles de Delphes 5 (Paris, 1969) 88 n.7, and 89, fig. 25 (four bird pendants in the Thessaloniki museum); and D. M. Robinson, Metal and Minor Miscellaneous Finds, an Original Contribution to Greek Life, Excavations at Olynthus 10 (Baltimore, 1941) 116, no. 400, pl. 24.


David G. Mitten

Publication History

  • Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 29, no. 230.

Exhibition History

  • The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961

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