Fibula with Floral Foot

1 of 1

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Period	Classical period
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Century	5th-4th century BCE
Culture	Italic
Dimensions	1.9 x 0.8 x 3.7 cm (3/4 x 5/16 x 1 7/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

This intact one-piece fibula has a floral foot. The spring has three coils, with the pin tapering to a point. The undecorated leech bow is pointed on the exterior. The large knob at the foot of the catchplate resembles a poppy head.
 
1. Compare A. Dionisio, “Le fibule tra il V e il I secolo A.C.,” in Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche 3: I bronzi della collezione Gorga, ed. M. G. Benedettini (Rome, 2012) 156-91, esp. 165, nos. 474-76, pl. 28.
 
Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Technical Observations

The patina is green with areas of black. Brown burial accretions are present. The fibula is stable, although it is mineralized and fragile. The black areas are probably sulfides from a modern storage environment.
 
The heavier, curved bow section and the pomegranate finial at the tip were probably cast using a direct lost-wax process. From this casting, the spring, pin, and catchplate were cold worked into their finished shapes. On the projecting stem of the pomegranate is a cross made up of two grooves, probably cut abrasively. There is no other decoration of the surface.
 
Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University