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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.187
Title
Beaked Pitcher with Carinated Body (Schnabelkanne)
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Ancient Ewer
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
mid 4th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Classical period, Late
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303785

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
25.5 x 13 cm (10 1/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:

Point 1: Cu, 81.31; Sn, 5.72; Pb, 12.27; Zn, 0.01; Fe, 0.08; Ni, 0.05; Ag, 0.07; Sb, 0.15; As, 0.26; Bi, 0.026; Co, 0.039; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Point 2: Cu, 85.63; Sn, 13.45; Pb, 0.24; Zn, 0.024; Fe, 0.05; Ni, 0.02; Ag, 0.17; Sb, 0.18; As, 0.24; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

Point 3: Cu, 86.85; Sn, 12.44; Pb, 0.15; Zn, 0.027; Fe, 0.04; Ni, 0.02; Ag, 0.03; Sb, 0.14; As, 0.31; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Comment: Curatorial has recorded a note that said: “Use old data for other sample analysis” but has no indication which sample is the old data.

Technical Observations: The patina is greenish brown with large patches of bright green and tannish brown. The patina of the interior is less corroded and shows hammer marks from fabrication. Large losses to the mid-section suggest the metal was thin, heavily worked, and therefore more prone to corrosion. A modern strip of copper was used to reinforce the weakened midsection.

The pitcher was fabricated by a combination of casting and then raising by hammering and annealing. The mouth shows a cast design in a relatively thick wall, with the neck and shoulder formed by hammering the metal down from below the mouth to the middle of the pitcher to form the upper half of the pitcher. The lower half was raised from a disc. Centering marks are still visible on the interior and exterior of the bottom. The interior of the lower half shows well-preserved facets from hammering. A ring around the outer portion of the bottom was raised from the central portion of the bottom, and engraved turn lines were done on the lathe. The upper and lower halves were possibly joined mechanically with square, alternating, tooth-like cuts (crenelation) hammered together on either side of the join. There is only a trace of this type of join visible; most of the join is opened up by a large area of loss. A crack near the bottom may indicate another join, but it may also be a result of the very thin metal in the turned and engraved line. The handle was cast. It is attached with modern pins—one rod at the top which does not go through the pitcher, and two threaded pins at the lower end of the handle—and may not be related to the body.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1920.

Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton
Accession Year
1920
Object Number
1920.44.187
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 elegant pitcher of the Schnabelkanne (lit., “beaked pitcher”) type curves sharply to the upturned spout. The rim of the mouth has a delicate beading along the interior edge, distinguished by an incised line. The exterior edge of the mouth is sharply molded. The handle has a slight S-curve, which terminates in a ram’s head at the mouth. The ram’s head protrudes over the rim, as if gazing into the liquid that the vessel would have contained. The mouth of the ram is slightly open. The handle is decorated with a rope-like strip running down the spine, ending in a loop at the top and in a palmette at the bottom. The rectangular attachment plate, which is elaborately decorated, connects to the vessel on the lower part of the carinated body. Although rather worn, it is possible to make out two figures on the attachment plate, picked out in an abbreviated style. They appear to be nude. The body of the pitcher joins sharply to the neck, which was fabricated separately. The torus base is emphasized by several incised lines along the top of the curve.

NOTES:

1. For the Schnabelkanne type in general, compare the vessels in M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 369, no. 515; and J. W. Hayes, Greek, Roman, and Related Metalware in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue (Toronto, 1984) fig. 26.

2. For handles with depictions in their attachment plates, see M. P. Bini, G. Caramella, and S. Buccioli, I bronzi etruschi e romani, Materiali del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Tarquinia 13 (Rome, 1995) pl. 112-13; and R. D. De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2013) 153-54, nos. 5.13-14.


Marina D. Haworth

Publication History

  • Henry Lie and Francesca Bewer, "Ex Aere Factum: Technical Notes on 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), 38-63, pp.42-43, fig. 2.1.
  • 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), pp. 42-43, 88, fig. 2.1

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

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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