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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.160
Title
Basin Handle
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
handle
Date
5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Classical period
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/57002

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
8.5 x 12 x 1.4 cm (3 3/8 x 4 3/4 x 9/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Leaded Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead
Other Elements: iron
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with areas of red and bright green. The surface is well preserved in most areas.

The object is a solid, indirect lost-wax cast. It is possible that the upper and lower halves were cast as separate wax models and then joined in the wax prior to casting the handle in metal: the lower acanthus leaf section curves to mate with the curve of the basin, while the handle above it is completely planer. The beaded edges of the handle appear to have been created entirely by the mold used to cast the wax model. The finer and slightly sharper shapes of the rope border adjacent to the beading were cold worked by punching an elongated point into the metal at close intervals. The leaf and lion mask were cast and then finished with a minimal amount of cold working. The back of the leaf section, which joined to the vessel, bears a thin residue of a white metal, probably lead.


Henry Lie (submitted 2011)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Sotheby Park Bernet, New York, 1980], sold; to The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (1980-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.


Sotheby Sale, May 16, 1980, (Lot 218)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.160
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 angular, C-shaped handle is in the form of a rectangle with a molded attachment on the fourth side (1). The handle is thick, solid, and rectangular in section. It is decorated with several lines of rope and egg-and-dart ornaments. The attachment is elaborately decorated with three inverted palmettes, six volutes, and two lion heads. The inverted palmettes are evenly spaced at the ends and center; the straight fronds have a clamshell-like appearance. The volutes decorate the spaces between the palmettes, and a rope ornament runs along the top of the attachment. The lion heads at each end are flattened and may represent the lion skin of Herakles, a popular motif in Etruscan art.

NOTES:

1. Compare M. P. Bini, G. Caramella, and S. Buccioli, I bronzi etruschi e romani, Materiali del Museo archeologico nazionale di Tarquinia 13 (Rome, 1995) 168, no. 197, pl. 68.1.a-b; and R. De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New Haven, 2013), 238, no. 6.84.


Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

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