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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.216.1981
Title
Openwork Disc
Other Titles
Former Title: Phalera
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
jewelry
Date
7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304023

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
11.9 x 1.5 cm (4 11/16 x 9/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: Disc
XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, antimony

XRF data from Artax 2
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, zinc, iron, silver, antimony, arsenic

Loop
XRF data from Artax 2
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, zinc, iron, silver, antimony, arsenic

Small openwork disc
XRF data from Artax 2
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, zinc, iron, silver

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina on the disc is dark brown with some areas of bare metal exposed. The surface was probably stripped of green corrosion products using an electrolytic process, leaving bare metal and a thin dark patina. The patina on the top and bottom of the wheel-shaped attachment is different from the disc, which is a matte dark brown. The very fine concentric lines on the exterior may result from the method of manufacture rather than being added decoration. There is a small chip out of the edge on one side.

The thinness of the two circular sheets indicates they were probably formed by hammering. The central hemisphere cap is hollow, and the retaining pin, which holds the assembly together, is visible at the center of this cap. The pin has an integral eyelet at the back, which would have served as an attachment point. The small pierced holes were punched from the front, and broad deformations at the back around each hole are the result of pressure from this punching. The L-shaped holes were punched from the back with a circular punch (4 mm in diameter). A saw or other similar cutting device was then used to enlarge this hole and give it rectilinear, rather than circular, boundaries. Fine incised lines in most areas not pierced follow very smooth arcs and must have been impressed while the disc was turned slowly on a wheel device.


Henry Lie (submitted 2011)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Harvard University Department of Classics, (by 1977), transferred; to Fogg Art Museum, 1977.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
1977
Object Number
1977.216.1981
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 disc is decorated with intricate incised and openwork geometric shapes over three distinct decorative zones. The outermost and simplest area on the disc is a wide plain band with several fine circular lines. Next, there is a ring of openwork and incised decoration with four quadrants: each quadrant consists of a semicircular triple row of small oblong cutouts, then a plain band, and then four L-shaped cutouts, followed by another plain band around the central medallion. The quadrants are divided by a double row of oblong cutouts with a single row of incised circles with interior dots on either side. At the center, a smaller wheel-shaped disc with triangular openwork cutouts and a serrated edge is attached to the larger disc by a rivet. The rivet has a domed head at one end (the exterior) and a loop at the other end (the interior)—the loop is turned after insertion into a slot on the larger disc in order to keep it in place. The interior has no incised decoration (1).

The use of discs such as this one is highly debated. Elaborately decorated bronze discs from seventh-century BCE Italy are well known from museum collections. The discs are generally of two sizes: discs of the small size, like this one, range from c. 10 to 12 cm in diameter; and those of the large size range from c. 20 to 25 cm in diameter. In the past, discs of both sizes have been considered to be elements of Italic armor, with the larger discs labeled as cardiophylaxes or pectorals (a small, round breastplate) (2). Recent research, however, suggests that both types of disc are elements of female dress (3). The discs would perhaps have been worn attached to a strip of cloth that wrapped around the neck and draped down the front, with the larger disc attached at the sternum and the smaller disc (like this one) attached at the bottom like a terminal. Supporting the new interpretation is the fact that, where findspots are known, most of these discs are found in female graves (4).

NOTES:

1. For similar discs, see G. Colonna, “Migranti Italici e ornato femminile (a proposito di Perugia e dei Sarsinati qui Perusiae consederant,” Ocnus 15 (2007): 89-116, esp. 108, no. A.5, figs. 4.5 and 5.2; and R. Papi, Dischi-corazza abruzzesi a decorazione geometrica nei musei italiani (Rome, 1990) 36, no.14, fig. 22b. For the so-called “Casacanditella group,” to which the Harvard example is assigned, see G. Tomedi, Italische Panzerplatten und Panzerscheiben (Stuttgart, 2000) 80-85, nos. 338-63, esp. 353-56; the Harvard piece is no. 356A.

2. Papi 1990 (supra 1) and Tomedi 2000 (supra 1).

3. Colonna 2007 (supra 1) and J. Weidig, “Nur glänzendes Blech oder echter Schutz? Die ältesten italischen Panzerscheiben (Mozzano, Cittaducale, Capena) und die Frage der Kampfesweise in Zentralitalien,” Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 58 (2011): 189-242, esp. 192. Weidig notes that over half of the discs that had been called pectorals are more properly feminine decorative pieces and goes on to discuss and illustrate true versions Italic pectorals.

4. The interpretation of Italic bronze girdles closely parallels these discs. Originally thought to be elements of an Italic warrior’s panoply, in this case thought to act as a reinforced military belt, they are now understood to be part of female dress because almost all excavated examples come from the graves of women; see M. Augusto, Villanovan Bronze Girdles (M.A. thesis, Brown University, 1982) 23. Papi 1990 (supra 1) 11, also notes an excavated example from a female grave.


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Gerhard Tomedi, Italische Panzerplatten und Panzerscheiben, Franz Steiner Verlag (Stuttgart, 2000), p. 83, no. 356A, pl. 125.
  • Lisa Anderson, "Approaches to the Identification and Classification of Ancient Bronzes in Museum Collections", 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), 92-111, pp. 104-105, fig. 4.4.
  • 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), p. 104, fig. 4.4

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