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A flat, dark metal, crescent shaped brooch with parallel line decoration.

This is a brooch made of dark metal, in a flat, crescent shape, with the thin fastening pin flat on the bottom edge of the image. The pin is coiled once at the bottom right to create a spring shape. The crescent curves down towards the pin and at each of the crescent's points there are three parallel lines as decoration. There is a broad, flat, roughly circular piece of the same metal on the bottom left of the crescent, where the point of the pin meets the rest of the brooch.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1986.655
Title
Incised Bow Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
second half 8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Corinth (Corinthia)
Period
Geometric period, Late
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303951

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10 x 17 x 0.1 cm (3 15/16 x 6 11/16 x 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 86.74; Sn, 12.64; Pb, 0.43; Zn, 0.024; Fe, 0.08; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.02; Sb, 0.03; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: All of the Geometric fibulae and fibula fragments have a green patina. 1985.35, 1985.36, and 1985.158 also show large areas of black, brown, and some red corrosion products. 1986.655 has been cleaned more than the others have. It is mostly black and brown, with small areas of green, exposed red, and bright metal. The fragmentary catchplates (1986.579, 1986.580, 1986.581, 1986.582, 1986.583, 1986.584, 1986.585, 1986.587, 1986.588, and 1986.589) are significantly mineralized and very fragile. The more complete fibulae are generally less mineralized and even retain flexibility in their pin elements.

Examining the Geometric fibulae and fragments as a group, it appears that the method of manufacture was to cast the more three-dimensional bow section with appendages that could subsequently be hammered into the flat catchplates and elongated pin sections. With designs such as 1978.62 and 1985.158, cast sections lie at two opposite sides of the flat catchplate, indicating that the hammering of the plate occurred in the middle of the casting. Some incised decoration may have been added to the cast sections (see the detail of arm of 1978.62), but most decoration is limited to the flat catchplates.

Joins between the cast element and the pins of 1985.158 and 1952.110 are visible in x-radiographs and under magnification. None of the other more complete examples, which were x-radiographed and examined with a stereomicroscope, were found to have joins at these or any other locations. The joins in these two examples may be repairs made after the pins were broken during fabrication. Presumably, the work hardening of the plates and the pins during forming would have been desirable, since it would help them to hold their shape better and would provide elasticity to the pin section. The method of production might have made the spring coil prone to breakage, hence the need for a repair join.

The main portion of the catchplate section is in most cases relatively even, usually varying by no more than 0.2 mm. The average thickness ranges from 0.5 to 0.7 mm in the group. The back of 1986.579 is not decorated and shows hammer marks related to its fabrication. It and 1977.216.3416 were the only examples not decorated on both sides.

The large, intact fibula 1986.655 has a flat incised back in addition to the flat catchplate, and there are no three-dimensional elements, except for simple forms at the juncture between these sections. The flat plates in this case are thicker (1.2 to 1.4 mm), and it is possible that their general shape is largely the result of casting rather than hammering.

Incised lines are mostly confined to the catchplates, but are also present on some of the arms and cast sections. They were made with a variety of pointed and flat tool shapes. All but two of the catchplates, 1986.579 and 1977.216.3416, are decorated on both the front and back sides. Incised shapes include dots, lines, circles, semicircles, arcs, and tremolo decoration. The more prominent incised lines measure about 0.3 mm in width. Many of these are curves, but even the straight lines show irregularities indicating they were drawn freehand, without the use of a straight edge. Under magnification (see the detail of 1978.62), one can see a trough that was made by drawing flat and rounded tool points across the surface, with borders of raised metal pushed up at both sides. The height of the raised borders probably varies with the hardness of the metal and the pressure applied with the tool. None of the lines appears to have been engraved or made using any other process that involved cutting and removing a line of metal from the surface.

Circular shapes were made with a double-pointed tool, with one point used to mark and hold the circle’s center and the other to inscribe the circular shape. Border designs are frequently a combination of large and small concentric semicircles. Each semicircle of the pair appears to have been made as a separate step. The inner circle of the borders on 1986.583 is faceted from drawing the line in steps, while the outer circle is smoothly drawn. Many of the circular lines vary in width through their arcs, and this effect in shorter arcs can be used to form a row of comma shapes (see the detail of 1978.62). In spite of the facets visible in some circles, their small radii, which range from 1.2 to 2.0 mm in length, make it unlikely that the tool was forced across the surface with the aid of a hammer.

Tremolo decoration (a fine zigzag pattern made by rocking a curved chisel point back and forth over the surface) was used as a border pattern (see the detail of 1986.384 belt), as a fill pattern (see the detail of 1986.655), and as a general drawing element. In 1986.655, animals were drawn with the tool used to make the tremolo pattern, giving them a soft, fuzzy appearance. The tremolo pattern appears to have been created by the rocking from side to side of a flat-tipped tool while it is simultaneously pushed forward across the surface. It may be that if the tip was slightly concave at the center, the marks appeared as two distinct rows with a gap in the middle, as in the border of 1986.384. The pattern width, and therefore the tool width, varies from 1 to 2 mm. Raised lines, longitudinal to the patterns, appear to have been caused by imperfections in the front edge of the tool. As it is pushed forward during side-to-side rocking, small, raised lines are formed, perpendicular to the zigzag incisions (see the detail of 1986.582).

The fingerprint-like pattern of the fine, longitudinal lines in some tremoli and in some of the other incised line decorations is distinct enough to match objects to a single workshop. Unfortunately, no matches were found for the objects in this group. However, the consistency in the way various tools were used to make decorations on many of the catchplates indicates that they could have originated in the same workshop or in workshops that were very familiar with each other’s working methods.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Ancient Art Acquisition Fund through the generosity of Walter Cliff and Ursula Cliff
Accession Year
1986
Object Number
1986.655
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
Formal and decorative features of this bow fibula point to Central Greece (1); specifically the decorative techniques of closely spaced punch marks and tremolo decoration (2) have parallels in Attic workmanship, while the central disc on the bow resembles Boeotian bow fibulae (3). It is likely that this fibula predates these parallels and may serve as a key to interpreting the iconography of an important group of Boeotian bow fibulae, which are characterized by large central discs surrounded by dense figural compositions incised on their crescent bows (4).

The largest surface area on the fibula is the sheet bronze bow, which is more arched at the top than the bottom. Single bead moldings, each with a raised ring above and below, terminate the narrow ends of the bow. The faceted extension at one end tapers to a double loop and straight across to the pointed end of the pin, which is held in the upturned bottom edge of the catchplate. The catchplate is flat like the bow and continues the bow’s arc, flaring into a rectangle.

Side B of the fibula preserves nearly all of the incised decoration (5). The bow has a thick border of tremolo lines, within which is a double zigzag with punch marks across the top and a diamond chain at the bottom. Inside the border, a central, radiate disc contains seven other discs half its size, which intersect to form a six-petal rosette. A rein connecting the muzzles of two confronted horses holds the disc aloft. A pair of birds confronts each other in the space between the horses and the disc. Two fish, one at each end of the crescent-shaped field, face downwards. A zigzag, a double zigzag, and a diamond chain—all embellished with fine punch marks—fill the tremolo border of the catchplate, which encloses a horse confronting a fish.

The Harvard bow fibula and the group of Boeotian bow fibulae reflect ideas found in early Greek epic poetry. The decoration of the Harvard bow fibula diagrams the route of Helios across the arc of heaven from dawn (eos) to dusk (zophos), as related in the Homeric Hymn to Helios (6). Parallel to the hymn’s account of the sun chariot pausing in its course, probably at mid-heaven, the fibula pictures Helios as a radiate disc positioned at the highest point in the sky, within a symmetrical composition mapping the sun’s daily arc. The composition embeds the sun chariot (horse–disc–horse) within a series of environmental icons (fish–horse–bird–disc–bird–horse–fish). of the Helios rises at dawn (eos) from Okeanos (fish) to Ouranos (bird), where he pauses at mid-heaven before heading back through Ouranos (bird) down into Okeanos (fish). On the catchplate, the horse, standing for Gaia, and the fish, standing for Okeanos or Pontos, represent the land and water divisions of the earthly zone. Geometric fibulae commonly show these two antithetical elemental spheres on opposite sides of their catchplates. The sequence, a–b–c–d–c–b–a, analogous to the schema on the Harvard belt, 1986.384, is a paratactic ring representing a day as a cyclic measure of time, or time signature. The sequence underlies a dynamic cosmology and symbolizes the cycle of a rising and setting Helios as connected to, engaged with, and influenced events in the mortal sphere.

Confirmation of this interpretation is found on a bow fibula in a private collection in New York, which was surely made by the same craftsman as the Harvard fibula. The decoration on side A of this matching fibula is nearly identical to side B of the Harvard fibula. However, on side B of the New York fibula, a human figure, Helios himself, is shown to the left of the radiate disc in the process of unreining one of his chariot horses at mid-heaven, just as it is described in the hymn.

The Harvard bow fibula diagrams the rising and setting sun as changing directional and environmental coordinates and degrees of illumination. Dawn equates with the east, life, light, and the past; on the other hand, dusk equates with the west, death, darkness, and the future. Synchronized with this cycle is the coordination of white with up and darkness with down. On the fibula, Helios is pictured at mid-heaven, when all of these polarities are held in cosmic balance, diagrammed on the fibula bow as a symmetrical sequence.

The route of Helios also calibrates the outcome of Homeric battles. The “high-noon” position of Helios on the fibula represents a celestial moment of divine judgment, when events on the Homeric battlefield hang in the balance. Symbolized in the Iliad as the golden scales of Zeus, no Homeric battle is decided before this heavenly verdict is delivered. Later Boeotian bow fibulae are decorated with similar large, centrally placed discs surrounded by a wide array of figures, including animal and human, as well as mythological and heroic. As with the Harvard fibula and its companion piece in New York, these also represent charged moments of cosmic reckoning when the route of Helios is in accord with fortunes on earth (7).

NOTES:

1. M. Bennett, “Engraved Bow Fibulae,” in From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer, exh. cat., Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley; Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. S. Langdon (Columbia, MO, 1993) 208-10, no. 81.

2. Also called “rocked zigzags.” Tremolo is a fine zigzag pattern made by rocking a curved chisel point back and forth over the surface.

3. Bennett 1993 (supra 1) 208.

4. M. Bennett, “Boeotian bow fibulae and the route of Helios,” in From the Parts to the Whole: Acta of the 13th International Bronze Congress, eds. C. C. Mattusch, A. Brauer, and S. E. Knudsen, Journal of Roman Archaeology Suppl. 39 (Portsmouth, RI, 2000) 1: 51-58.

5. Side B faces up when the fibula is oriented with the catchplate to the left. Corrosion obscures most of the incision on side A.

6. Bennett 1993 (supra 1) 209; id., Belted Heroes and Bound Women: The Myth of the Homeric Warrior-King (Lanham, 1997) 32-36; Bennett 2000 (supra 4) 51-54.

7. Bennett 1993 (supra 1); id., “The Shape of Epic Time: Geometric Diagrams,” Minerva 7.5 (1996): 54-56; Bennett 1997 (supra 6) 31-41; Bennett 2000 (supra 4) 51-58.


Michael Bennett

Publication History

  • Susan Langdon, ed., From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer, exh. cat., University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO, 1993), p. 208-209, no. 81, pl. 7.
  • Michael J. Bennett, "The Shape of Epic Time: Geometric Diagrams", Minerva (1996), Vol. 7, No. 5, 54-56, figs. 4-5.
  • Michael J. Bennett, Belted Heroes and Bound Women, Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group (Lanham, MD, 1997), p. 31-41, fig. 2, pls. 4-5.
  • Michael J. Bennett, "Boeotian Bow Fibulae and the Route of Helios", From the Parts to the Whole: Acta of the 13th International Bronze Congress, ed. Carol C. Mattusch, Amy Brauer, and Sandra E. Knudsen, Journal of Roman Archaeology (Portsmouth, RI, 2000), Vol. 1, 51-58, p. 51-53, figs. 1-2, 5
  • Michael J. Bennett, "Cosmic Diagrams: Incised Geometric Personal Ornaments at Harvard", Teaching with Objects: The Curatorial Legacy of David Gordon Mitten, ed. Amy Brauer, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2010), pp. 148-59, figs. 1-2.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, "Men of Bronze--Cups of Bronze: Bronze in the Iron Age", 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), 146-69, pp. 156-57, fig. 7.5.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum/Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 57, 67, 166-167, fig. 7.5

Exhibition History

  • From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia, 10/09/1993 - 12/05/1993; University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, 01/19/1994 - 03/20/1994; Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/22/1994 - 06/19/1994

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Collection Highlights

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