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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1975.76
Title
Horse-Shaped Cheek Pieces with Bridle Bit and Rings
Classification
Riding Equipment
Work Type
bit
Date
8th-7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, North Italy
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303842

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
7.5 x 12.3 x 1.8 cm (2 15/16 x 4 13/16 x 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 91.66; Sn, 6.76; Pb, 0.69; Zn, 0.07; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.15; Ag, 0.12; Sb, 0.24; As, 0.27; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.017; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with an area of red. The object is deeply mineralized and fragile. The ears are partly lost and a break at one is repaired.

The two horse castings are very similar and, presuming they were lost-wax cast, their wax models would have been made from the same mold. It is possible that the interlocking links connecting the horses were cast in place at the same time by isolating their wax models with investment material. Alternatively the loops of their links could have been closed by cold working or welding, but there is no evidence of this. The two larger rings at either side were made by cold working a rod (c. 7 mm in diameter) into a loop with the ends meeting at a diagonal, but with no solder or weld.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Norbert Schimmel collection, (by 1965), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1975.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Norbert Schimmel
Accession Year
1975
Object Number
1975.76
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
In an elaborate horse bit of this sort, the horse would have held the connecting bars in its mouth, while the horse-shaped cheek pieces would have been on either side of its mouth, and straps would have been passed through the large rings. The cheek pieces are highly stylized, each depicting a large horse carrying a smaller horse on its back. The large horse has a broad, flat face, with the eyes rendered as small protuberances on either side of the head, and the mouth is represented as slightly open. The ears are high pointed triangles, separated from the head. The mane is a high curving crest, perhaps reminiscent of the helmet crests of Italic warriors (1). An angled bar juts out from the bottom of the mane to connect to the body at slightly less than a right angle. The body is a long bar, with a central circular opening for the bridle bit rods to pass through. It widens slightly at the rump; the tail is a thin curving bar connected to the back hooves. The forelegs and hind legs are rendered together in two bars tapering down to the hooves, which are circles. An elaborate, curving bar connects the front and back hooves, rising up in the center where another thin bar connects it to the central ring in the body of the large horse. Two small, stylized animals appear facing each other on the bottom bar. The small horse (4.2 cm long) that is standing on the larger horse resembles the larger animal in most respects, except that it has fewer details, a proportionately shorter body, and larger rump. It is attached to the larger horse via a vertical bar from the muzzle to the central ring, the fore hooves, hind hooves, and tail.

F.-W. von Hase ascribes this piece to the second variant of his Volterra type (2), dated to the Early Iron Age. Many examples of horse-shaped cheek pieces and bridle bits include decorative pendants, attached to the various loops on the lower bar, which do not appear here. Horses were prestige animals, and elements of their tack could be quite elaborate (3). Zoomorphic cheek pieces, depicting horses and moufflons, were also used in the ancient Near East during the Iron Age (4).

NOTES:

1. See 1977.216.2310.

2. The other objects of this type are all very close to the Harvard piece, and some are likely from the same workshop, although none of these have known findspots; see F.-W. von Hase, Die Trensen der Früheisenzeit in Italien, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 16.1 (Munich, 1969) 13, nos. 47-52, pls. A and 5.

3. See ibid., 53-56, for a discussion of known find contexts for horse-shaped cheek pieces in general, which are most often found in graves, sometimes with prestige goods.

4. See 1962.68 (horse), 1956.7.A, and 1956.7.B (moufflons).


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Man in the Ancient World: An Exhibition of Pre-Christian Objects from the Regions of the Near East, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, exh. cat., Paul Klapper Library (Flushing, NY, 1958), no. 135, ill. front cover.
  • Herbert D. Hoffmann, ed., The Beauty of Ancient Art: Classical Antiquity, Near East, Egypt. Exhibition of the Norbert Schimmel Collection, November 15, 1964 to February 14, 1965, exh. cat., Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1964), no. 39.
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm von Hase, Die Trensen der Früheisenzeit in Italien, Verlag C.H. Beck (Munich, 1969), p. 13, no. 51, pl. 5.51.
  • "Four New Objects for Ancient Art Collection", Fogg Art Museum Newsletter (Spring 1976), p. 5.

Exhibition History

  • Man in the Ancient World: An Exhibition of Pre-Christian Objects from the Regions of the Near East, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, Paul Klapper Library, 02/10/1958 - 03/07/1958
  • The Beauty of Ancient Art: the Norbert Schimmel Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 11/15/1964 - 02/14/1965

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