Pin with Eyelet

1 of 2

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Period	Roman Imperial period, Late, to Early Byzantine
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Syria, Daphne (Syria)
Century	3rd-7th century
Culture	Roman
Dimensions	12.2 x 0.5 x 0.5 cm (4 13/16 x 3/16 x 3/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

This pin has a large, square handle that bulges slightly in the middle and is surmounted by six small ridges, two circular rings, and a small spherical ball. A long rectangular hole is cut through the handle on all four sides and is framed with rope-like striations. Four ridges and ribs of the same width are visible underneath the rectangular hole of the handle. The square shaft tapers to a sharp point.
 
Due to its decorative elements, it is possible that this object was a piece of jewelry rather than a tool (1).
 
NOTES:
 
1. Compare S. Boucher, G. Perdu, and M. Feugère, Bronzes antiques du Musée de la civilisation gallo-romaine à Lyon 2: Instrumentum, Aegyptiaca (Lyon, 1980) 116-17, no. 641.
 
David Smart

TechnicalDetails

Technical Observations

The patina is dark brown with metal showing through. The surface is slightly rough from corrosion. One of the four openwork columns of the finial is broken and held in place with soil accretions.
 
The object is intact. The pin was made by lost-wax casting, with hot working to shape the pin. The shaft appears to have been tapered by hammering and retains a slightly square section. The details of the decorative finial appear to have been shaped by cold working, and the openwork section seems to have been created by drilling and sawing through the center to create a cavity, although fine marks from the tools used have not survived.
 
Carol Snow and Henry Lie (submitted 2002, updated 2010)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity