Phrygian Bronze Fibula, Arched Bow with Ribbed Shoulders, Anatolia

Anatolia, Turkey, Phrygian. A small cast bronze fibula of the Anatolian arched-bow type, its semicircular bow thickening into a collared arc with fine encircling ribs at each shoulder. One end forms a tight coiled spring from which the slender pin extends, and the other rises into a small stepped catchplate that held the pin’s point. The surface has a warm, burnished brown patina with pale earthen deposits in the moldings. Fibulae of this type fastened the heavy woolen cloaks worn in the Phrygian highlands, and their shapes were standardized enough that archaeologists use bow profile and molding spacing to date them. Small in size, the piece is complete in its mechanism. The fibula is one of the signature artifacts of Iron Age Anatolia. Excavations at Gordion, the Phrygian capital on the Sangarius River, recovered them by the hundreds, including from the great tumulus long associated with the dynasty of Midas, where bronze fibulae were deposited in quantity alongside cauldrons and vessels. Oscar Muscarella's typology of these brooches, built on the Gordion material, remains the standard framework: variations in the bow's curvature, the number and profile of its knobs or moldings, and the form of the catchplate distinguish groups that spread west into Greece and east across the Assyrian frontier. Greek writers later remembered the safety-pin brooch as a foreign fashion, and the Anatolian workshops were among its most inventive producers. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 204604

估價:$350

查看所有物品來自Artemis Fine Arts或Medals, Arms & Armor