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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.36
Title
Crossbow Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
second half 4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period, Late
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310809

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brass
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
2.8 x 4.7 x 7.1 cm (1 1/8 x 1 7/8 x 2 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Brass:
Cu, 80.48; Sn, less than 0.25; Pb, 1.91; Zn, 15.96; Fe, 1.56; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.03; Sb, less than 0.05; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is black with some metal showing through. The pin is missing, except for a flattened section at the crossbar; the central knob is missing as well.

The fibula was made in two parts, the cast copper alloy body and the iron pin. The body was cast, probably by the lost-wax method, and the surface designs were done in the wax model. The missing central knob would have been cast separately and joined mechanically. The end of the iron pin is held in the body of the fibula by a narrow copper alloy rod. The knobs on the ends of the crossbar seem to be hollow; either plugs or the ends of the thin rod protrude out of the crossbar. The clasp was hammered over slightly. The surface shows gouges on the underside near the top as well as rough finishing marks.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, no. E-2260.

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
1978.495.36
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 remaining knobs of this crossbow fibula are spherical; the head knob is missing (1). The knobs may have been made separately and attached; beaded borders separate the extant knobs from the crossbar. The crossbar is rectangular in section, and it is decorated on the top by a series of raised beaded bands. The separately made pin (now missing) was attached to the fibula by a hinge that was secured to a wire rod inserted through the crossbar; the rod protrudes through the ends of the knobs. The bow of this example bears an incised lattice pattern with a double border on each side; additional molded collars are present at the juncture of the bow with the catchplate. The lattice pattern is repeated without the double border on the catchplate, and eight circular depressions—four near the bow and four near the foot—also decorate the top of the catchplate.

Crossbow fibulae were used in the Roman world from the third through sixth centuries CE (2). The distinctive fasteners, often decorated with prominent onion-shaped knobs, may have been status symbols, as indicated by examples in gold and the famous relief of the fourth-century Roman general Stilicho in Mantua, where crossbow fibulae are clearly rendered on the shoulders of the general and his son (3). Some examples were gilt hollow copper alloy—giving the illusion of the prestigious material without being as expensive or heavy (4).

NOTES:

1. Compare E. Keller, Die spätrömischen Grabfunde in Südbayern, Münchner Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 14 (Munich, 1971) 38-41 (type 4), fig. 12; H. Donder, Die Fibeln, Katalog der Sammlung Antiker Kleinkunst des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg 3.2 (Mainz, 1994) 141, no. 73, pl. 15; P. M. Pröttel, Die spätrömischen Metallfunde, Römische Kleinfunde aus Burghofe 2 (Rahden, 2002) 92, nos. 27-30, pl. 3; and S. Schmid, Die römischen Fibeln aus Wien (Vienna, 2010) 48 and 118-19, nos. 259-62 and 268, pls. 31-33.

2. See R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 282-88; B. Deppert-Lippitz, “A Late Antique Crossbow Fibula in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 35 (2000): 39-70; and P. Dandridge, “Idiomatic and Mainstream: The Technical Vocabulary of a Late Roman Crossbow Fibula,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 35 (2000): 71-86.

3. See P. von Rummel, Habitus barbarus: Kleidung und Repräsentation spätantiker Eliten im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 2007) 206-13, fig. 12.

4. 1978.495.37 may be an example of one of these.

Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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