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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1984.196
Title
Openwork Finial with Deer
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
late 8th-early 7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Macedonia or Thessaly
Period
Geometric period to Orientalizing
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304322

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
overall: 9.9 x 3.8 cm (3 7/8 x 1 1/2 in.)
deer: 3.9 x 3.7 cm (1 9/16 x 1 7/16 in.)
base: 0.4 x 3.7 x 0.8 cm (3/16 x 1 7/16 x 5/16 in.)
sphere: 5.2 x 3.8 cm (2 1/16 x 1 1/2 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 89.85; Sn, 9.5; Pb, 0.27; Zn, 0.005; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.07; Sb, 0.12; As, 0.14; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer
Comments: This was not supposed to be sampled; the sample may have been taken from another object and mislabeled.

Technical Observations: The patina is a smooth brownish green with disfiguring lumpy green and red corrosion. Brown burial deposits on the interior of the openwork cage are present. There is damage to the back of the head, which has also been affected by corrosion on one side.

The object appears to have been cast in one piece by the lost-wax process, and decorative lines were applied in the wax model prior to casting.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Sotheby's, New York, June 8, 1984, lot 7], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1984.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Marian H. Phinney Fund
Accession Year
1984
Object Number
1984.196
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
The solid-cast bronze openwork globe is surmounted by a deer standing on a narrow, rectangular platform. The upper and lower zones of the biconical globe are divided by a horizontal band whose incised decoration, consisting of alternating groups of diagonal lines, is visible from the back where corrosion is minimal. Areas of corrosion are especially extensive on the front of the globe. Each hemisphere of the globe is pierced with eight triangular openings. A casting error on the lower half, directly in line with the front legs of the deer, creates an imperfect divide between two triangles. A stem and decorative disc project from the bottom of the globe. Below the disc is a slight projection notched into four segments, which could represent a blossom, perhaps from a pomegranate. At the top of the globe, a short column supports a narrow undecorated, rectangular base on which stands a deer or stag. The head of the animal turns to the left, while its slender muzzle turns lightly downward. Raised pellets represent the eyes. The root of the left antler is preserved, but the right is completely missing. The left ear projects horizontally backward; only the stump of the right ear remains. The deer’s front and back legs merge into two supports; the hind legs rest slightly to the left of the base. The body is horizontal and has no surface decoration; it ends in a stubby tail.

Openwork globes with quadruped finials as dedications in Greek sanctuaries and as personal jewelry have been found in Balkan graves (1). An interesting parallel to the Harvard piece—a biconical globe pierced with four triangles in each half and surmounted by a horse, provenience unknown—is attributed by J.-L. Zimmermann to a Macedonian workshop of the Sub-geometric period (2). The Harvard example may be attributed to a Macedonian workshop of the Late Geometric period.

NOTES:

1. On openwork bronze globes, see J. Bouzek, “Openwork ‘Bird-Cage’ Bronzes,” in The European Community in Later Prehistory: Studies in Honor of C. F. C. Hawkes, eds. J. Boardman and M. A. Brown (London, 1971) 77-104, esp. 87-89 and 99-101, fig. 13 (in Macedonia and Greece). For openwork biconical pendants with quadruped finials and their distribution, see I. Kilian-Dirlmeier, Anhänger in Griechenland von der mykenischen bis zur spätgeometrischen Zeit, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 11.2 (Munich, 1979) 118-19, nos. 647-52, pl. 34.

2. See J.-L. Zimmermann, Les chevaux de bronze dans l’art géométrique grec (Mainz, 1989) 262, no. 13, pl. 62. For further discussion, see id., “Bronziers bèotiens et cervidès géométriques,” Numismatica e Antichità Classiche 19 (1990): 9-29.


Tamsey Andrews and David G. Mitten

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