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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.45
Title
Mouse
Other Titles
Former Title: Small Squirrel with Nut in Mouth
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
1st-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310532

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.4 x 1.2 x 3.4 cm (15/16 x 1/2 x 1 5/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 72.85; Sn, 6.89; Pb, 19.27; Zn, 0.473; Fe, 0.35; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.07; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.007; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is dark green. Several small areas of deep underlying red corrosion products provide some evidence of long-term burial. The object is well preserved. The tail is broken and lost, with only stumps remaining. Brown accretions near the tail appear to be from burial. The mouse is a solid cast. The surface detail appears to have been made in the wax model with no cold working in the metal.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, no. E-2308.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
Accession Year
1978
Object Number
1978.495.45
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 small mouse crouches on its hindquarters, nibbling on an object held to its mouth with its forepaws. The animal has small curved ears, with the interior recesses modeled. It has circular eyes rendered as a small circular incision with a raised center, and whiskers are indicated on both sides. The bottoms of the hind paws are flat. The mouse’s tail, which would have formed a loop, is mostly missing, preserved only by a small bump behind the feet and a second near the center of the back where it would have connected to the body (1).

Small copper alloy mice of the Roman period have been found throughout the Mediterranean and Europe (2). The small statuettes were probably decorations on lamps: mice were noted in ancient literature for drinking the oil and eating the wicks from lamps (3), and so the statuettes may have been apotropaic as well as decorative (4).

NOTES:

1. For similar Roman mice of this type, see P. Kiernan, “The Bronze Mice of Apollo Smintheus,” American Journal of Archaeology 118.4 (2014): 601-26, esp. 617-19, Appendix 1, nos. 2, 5, 7, 19, and 21; figs. 2.a, 3.b, and 3.g. See also two very similar examples in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; C. Friederichs, Berlins antike Bildwerke 2: Antike Geräthe und Broncen im Alten Museum (Düsseldorf, 1871) 499, nos. 2400 and 2402.

2. Kiernan 2014 (supra 1) 612-13, fig. 14. Silver mice are also known; see ibid., 618, Appendix 1, nos. 14-15.

3. Ibid., 613-15.

4. Ibid., 614-16. See ibid., figs. 12-13, for intact examples of mice on lamps or lamp lids.


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Philip Kiernan, "The Bronze Mice of Apollo Smintheus", American Journal of Archaeology (October 2014), Vol. 118, No. 4, 601-27, 602-603, fig. 3f.

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