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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1939.126
Title
Spatula and Ear Scoop
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
instrument
Date
1st-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Antioch (Syria)
Find Spot: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310753

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
11 x 1 cm (4 5/16 x 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is brown with metal showing through and spots of green. There are slight bends in the shaft and distortions in the spoon. Longitudinal striations and cavities in the shaft may indicate that it was rolled and hammered from a sheet the width of the spoon and spatula endings. The spatula was made from a hammered sheet, which was hammered and rolled onto itself to form the shaft. A seam is visible along the shaft in the longitudinal direction. The ends were hammered out to form the spoon and spatula. The notches adjacent to both ends appear to have been filed or hammered and filed. The object exhibits very minor losses to the edges and deformations at the midsection.


Carol Snow and Henry Lie (submitted 2002, updated 2010)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Excavated from Antioch on the Orontes, sector 18-O/P (no. a-49-U500) (Turkey, Hatay) by the Syrian Department of Antiquities (later the Hatay government) and the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity, (1939), dispersed; to the Fogg Museum, 1939.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity
Accession Year
1939
Object Number
1939.126
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This double-ended instrument has a flat spatula at one end and a small, hemispherical scoop at the other. The shaft is twisted so that the spatula and scoop are set at 90 degrees to each other. There is a large, bead-shaped rib at each end of the shaft near the spatula and scoop. The spatula is wider at the tip and tapers slightly to the shaft. Scratches are visible on the inside of the scoop and at the spatula’s base.

Greek and Roman medical instruments, many of which were described by ancient authors, have been found, sometimes in sets, throughout the ancient world (1). The instruments could have been used for more than one function, making precise classification difficult in some instances. A spatula is a probe with one flattened, spatula-shaped end and a probe on the other used for stirring and applying medicines, among other uses (2). Spatulae are among the most common instrument types (3). Scoop probes could be used for stirring and applying medicines, cleaning ears or other, including cosmetic, uses (4).

NOTES:

1. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times (Oxford, 1907) 1-9; and D. Michaelides, “A Roman Surgeon’s Tomb from Nea Paphos,” Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1984: 315-32, esp. 321-23.

2. Milne 1907 (supra 1) 58-61; Michaelides 1984 (supra 1) 325-26; and R. Jackson and S. La Niece, “A Set of Roman Medical Instruments from Italy,” Britannia 17 (1986): 119-67, esp. 158.

3. L. J. Bliquez, Roman Surgical Instruments and Other Minor Objects in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Mainz, 1994) 46-47.

4. Milne 1907 (supra 1) 61-68; Michaelides 1984 (supra 1) 325-36; Jackson and La Niece 1986 (supra 2) 157-58.


David Smart

Exhibition History

  • Antioch-on-the-Orontes: Excavating an Early Byzantine City, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection, Washington, 04/07/2010 - 10/10/2010

Subjects and Contexts

  • Roman Domestic Art
  • 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