Hoop

1 of 2

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Sardis (Lydia)
Century	Unidentified century
Culture	Unidentified culture
Dimensions	4.8 x 4.2 x 0.3 cm (1 7/8 x 1 5/8 x 1/8 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

This wire is bent into a circle that is too large to be a ring. The terminals are not connected and overlap to some degree; the wire is otherwise undecorated.

There is no indication that this wire was worn as a bracelet. With such a simple form, it is difficult to know how the object would have been used. It could have been a pendant decoration from a fibula or one piece of a multi-part object.

This object is one of a number of surface finds collected by the Sardis excavation photographer in 1913-1914. Because the objects are unstratified, it is difficult to assign dates and parallels.

Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Technical Observations

The patina is a mottled green; there are also shinier, lighter areas that seem to be preserved original surface. The black sulfide corrosion crystals must have resulted from post-excavation storage conditions.
 
The hoop was made in one piece from a round-sectioned wire bent to make the terminals overlap. A longitudinal crack that runs along much of the length of the piece and the few traces of facets relate to the fabrication of the object; it was probably hammered into a wire from a strip of metal. The ends are decorated with a few simple inscribed bands that run perpendicular to the wire.
 
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Frederick M. Godwin