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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.12.34.B
Title
Ornament
Other Titles
Former Title: Buckle
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
jewelry
Date
early 4th-mid 9th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Sardis (Lydia)
Find Spot: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey), Western Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Byzantine period, Early
Culture
Byzantine
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304139

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5.1 x 1.4 x 0.3 cm (2 x 9/16 x 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina consists of various green and black corrosion products with brown burial deposits. The object is intact, although it bears casting flaws and worn surfaces.

The attachment was cast, probably in a two-part mold. The edges show excess metal, which flowed during casting along the join of the two molds.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Brought from Sardis; by Frederick Marquand Godwin, New York, (by 1914), by descent; to his wife Dorothy W. Godwin, New York (1914-1964), gift; to the Fogg Museum of Art, 1964.

Note: Frederick M. Godwin was the photographer for the excavations at Sardis with Howard Crosby Butler in 1913 and 1914.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Frederick M. Godwin
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.12.34.B
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
This cast ornament in the shape of a half-oval has a rounded finial at each end and two pelta-shaped openings at the center. The top edge is smooth; the bottom edge is scalloped. The specific use of this object is unclear; it may have been incorporated into a belt buckle or horse trapping or served as an ornament on an item of clothing (1). The attribution to the Early Byzantine period is tentative.

NOTES:

1. Compare O. Wulff, Altchristliche und mittelalterliche byzantinische und italienische Bildwerke 1: Altchristliche Bildwerke (Berlin, 1909) 184, no. 843, pl. 44.


Alicia Walker

Publication History

  • Jane Waldbaum, Metalwork from Sardis: The Finds through 1974, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1983), p. 153, no. 1011, pl. 58.

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