Composite Fibula

1 of 1

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Period	Orientalizing period
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Century	8th-7th century BCE
Culture	Italic
Dimensions	4.4 x 1.5 x 1.8 cm (1 3/4 x 9/16 x 11/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

The bow of this composite fibula is decorated with bone and amber beads; the remains of four beads are still present (1). Circles have been drilled out of three sides of the largest bone bead. The amber bead is reassembled from fragments. The triple-coil fibula is made from one piece of metal; it has a simple, arched bow and a short catchplate.
 
NOTES:
 
1. Compare H. Donder, Die Fibeln, Katalog der Sammlung antiker Kleinkunst des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg 3.2 (Mainz, 1994) 63-69, nos. 34-35, pl. 7; J. M. Turfa, Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 2005) 103-104 and 129-30, nos. 34 and 78-79; and B. Giuliani, “Le fibule dall’età del ferro all’orientalizzante antico,” in Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche 3: I bronzi della collezione Gorga, ed. M. G. Benedettini (Rome, 2012) 56-78, esp. 74-75, nos. 230-43.
 
Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Technical Observations

The patina is green with areas of black. The copper alloy portion appears to be largely mineralized but stable. On the bow, three sections of bone are partially intact, while two or more appear to have been lost. A fragment of amber (5 x 8 mm) has survived and is held in place with modern adhesive.
 
The fibula was formed by hammering. The bow and spring sections are rectangular in cross-section; the pin has been hammered to a round shape in cross-section. The catchplate was hammered flat and bent to receive the point. Three shallow drill hole recesses with central pin holes are located on three sides of the larger bone section. They may be decorative in their own right or they may have once held an inlay.
 
Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

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