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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1973.18
Title
Female Figure Holding Scroll and Lyre
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
n.d.
Places
Creation Place: Unidentified Region
Period
Modern
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303991

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded brass
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10.6 x 4.4 x 2.1 cm (4 3/16 x 1 3/4 x 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

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

Cu, 55.1; Sn, 1.93; Pb, 3.39; Zn, 38.88; Fe, 0.32; Ni, 0.14; Ag, 0.04; Sb, 0.05; As, 0.13; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, 0.008

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patinas of both 1973.18 and 1973.19 are dark green with small spots of black. The corrosion layers are thin, and there is no evidence of long-term burial. White accretions on the surfaces may be applied mud or investment material.

Both figures are solid casts. The modeling and applied patinas of both are similar, and it is likely they came from the same studio. A mold line, probably related to casting the wax models, runs along both sides of each figure. Most of the decorative detail was worked directly in the wax models. The zigzag decorations on 1973.18 were created using a tremolo technique on the wax model.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Dorothy B. Austin
Accession Year
1973
Object Number
1973.18
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
The woman stands frontally, holding a lyre (cithara) in her left arm and a scroll in her right hand. Her features are somewhat indistinct. Her hair is pulled back in rolls on the sides of her head, with a chignon at the back and loose locks around the back of her neck. The woman’s eyes are somewhat deep set—the modeled upper and lower lids are clear. She has a small nose and mouth and pointed chin. Her drapery slips off her shoulders, leaving them exposed, although it is otherwise close fitting. Rolls of fabric are indicated around her neck and arms on the back. She also seems to wear a mantle draped around her waist, with rolls of fabric visible on the top at the front and back and additional flowing drapery on the left side where the ends meet. On the back of the statuette, the lower half of her drapery is decorated with a vertical row of zigzags that forks in two at her knees. She stands on a rectangular base, with her feet and legs pressed together; there is a slight dip in the front of the base between the feet. Her left arm cradles a lyre with two curving sides and an upright section with a raised oval outline; the arm and lyre are integral to the main body of the statuette. Her right arm is held down and slightly away from her side, with a space between the arm and body, holding a partially unrolled scroll. Rows of faint zigzags on the front and back of the scroll represent writing.

Two other statuettes almost identical to the Harvard piece in the Hatay Archaeology Museum in Turkey and the National Archaeological Museum in Lisbon, Portugal; the Hatay statuette has a reattached head and is missing its feet and base (1), while the Lisbon statuette is missing its feet (2). The break in the legs of the Hatay statuette corresponds to an irregular horizontal depression visible around the lower legs of the Harvard statuette and to the break in the legs of the Lisbon piece, making it possible that the Harvard statuette is an aftercast based one of these examples.

NOTES:

1. See E. Laflı and M. Feugère, Statues et statuettes en bronze de Cilicie avec deux annexes sur la main de Comana et les figurines en bronze du Musée de Hatay, BAR Int. Ser. 1584 (Oxford, 2006) 56, fig. 33.6.

2. See A. J. N. Pinto, Bronzes figurativos romanos de Portugal (Lisbon, 2002) 478-79, no. 379, pl. 200.


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • 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. 78, 89

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