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Steelyard and weight
Byzantine
Early Byzantine Period
5th–7th century A.D.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Length of rod: 106.7 cm (42 in.); height of weight: 21.6 cm (8 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Cornelius and Emily Vermeule and Walter and Celia Gilbert in honor of Mary Bryce Comstock
Accession Number2001.546.1-4
CollectionsEurope, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsTools and equipment – Weights and measures
DescriptionThe steelyard consists of a rod in two parts of unequal length and two additional hooks suspended on chains from a torque. The longer part of the rod is of tapering lozenge section engraved on three sides, each side with different divisions and stippled Greek letters at various intervals, the terminal in the form of a feline head. The lettering was used to mark the various weights. The shorter part is of rectangular section with three hooks suspended on moveable rings, each attached to a different side of the rod, the terminal in the form of a lion's head. The lead-filled weight is in the form of a bust of Athena supported on a rectangular flaring base decorated with stippled tendrils and bunches of grapes, the goddess wearing a chiton and a chlamys, an aegis with gorgoneion, and high-crested Corinthian helmet, shingled cuirass on the back, and a separate hook for suspending the weight on the rod.
Provenance1960s, said to be in the collection of an American museum curator [see note 1]. By 1976, Palladion Antike Kunst, Basel, Switzerland [note 2]. June 12, 2001, anonymous ("other properties") sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 104, to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 26, 2001)
NOTES:
[1] According to communication with a private collector, this may have belonged to an American museum curator in another field. [2] Palladion Antike Kunst, Katalog (1976), p. 92, no. 113. Also published in G. Kenneth Sams, in Yassi Ada I (1982), p. 224, notes 40 and 41.
NOTES:
[1] According to communication with a private collector, this may have belonged to an American museum curator in another field. [2] Palladion Antike Kunst, Katalog (1976), p. 92, no. 113. Also published in G. Kenneth Sams, in Yassi Ada I (1982), p. 224, notes 40 and 41.