Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1952.112
Title
Spectacle Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
fibula, pin
Date
8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Geometric period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/311336

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
1.9 x 4.6 cm (3/4 x 1 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina consists of various thick green corrosion products with a few areas of exposed red and brown surface. The tip of the pin is missing, and there are losses to the original surface.

The fibula was made from a thick square-sectioned wire or rod, which was shaped into spirals and twists using hot working with annealing as needed to keep the metal malleable, beginning at both ends and working toward the twisted figure-eight in the center. The end of the pin was rounded off before being hammered into place.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Herbert D. Hoffman, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1952.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Herbert D. Hoffmann
Accession Year
1952
Object Number
1952.112
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This tiny spectacle fibula is severely corroded. The round spirals have five turns each. The tip of the pin is missing. Such a small fibula may have belonged to a child.

These fibulae (1952.15, 1952.112, and 1986.516) represent the miniature and monumental ends of the scale of this type of symmetrical fibula, which was commonly termed a “spectacle fibula.” Each was fashioned from a single thin bronze wire, square in section, which was annealed and turned in order to create the symmetrical spiral patterns and the springy elasticity needed to close them. One sharpened end of this wire, forming the pin proper, fits into the other end, which turns up to form a catchplate. Spectacle fibulae were widely distributed throughout the Balkans and northern Greece during the eighth century BCE (1). Excavations of rich burials in the Iron Age tumuli of Vergina and elsewhere have shown that these fibulae occur in pairs, placed over the shoulders of skeletons (2). They also served as dedications in sanctuaries throughout northern and central Greece and the Peloponnesus (3). Thus, they seem to have served to connect the front and back halves of garments at the shoulders of the wearers. It would be interesting to discover whether the presence of pairs of spectacle fibulae in graves is an indicator of female burials, or if both sexes wore two. They also served as dedications.

NOTES:

1. J. Alexander, “The Spectacle Fibulae of Southern Europe,” American Journal of Archaeology 69 (1965): 7-23; K. Kilian, Fibeln in Thessalien von der mykenischen bis zur archaischen Zeit, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 14.2 (Munich, 1975) 132-48 and 234 (examples found at the sanctuary at Pherae in southern Thessaly), nos. 1567-710 (see esp. nos. 1567, 1574, 1576, 1627-28, and 1710), pls. 56-58; I. Kilian-Dirlmeier, “Bemerkungen zu den Fingerringen mit Spiralenden,” Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz 27 (1980): 249-69; and ead., Kleinfunde aus dem Athena Itonia-Heiligtum bei Philia (Thessalien) (Mainz, 2002) 42 n.176, nos. 580-86, pl. 40.

2. M. Andronikos, Βεργίνα 1: Το νεκροταφείον των τύμβων = Vergina 1: To nekrotapheion tōn tymvōn, Vivliothēkē tēs en Athēnais Archaiologikēs Hetaireias 62 (Athens, 1969) 227-30, figs. 67-68 [in Greek].

3. For examples at Olympia, see H. Philipp, Bronzeschmuck aus Olympia, Olympische Forschungen 13 (Berlin, 1981) 295-301, esp. 299 nn.503-504, no. 1070, pl. 65.


David G. Mitten

Subjects and Contexts

  • 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