Greek Metalwork: Bronze Dress Pin

Inv. No.: 86.009
Provenance: Greece
Date: c. 7th-6th century BC
Diameter: 10 mm (maximum)
Length: 135mm
 
Cottier-Angeli Gift.

A bronze dress pin that is broken at both ends. The long shaft of the pin is largely extant, but the tip is missing. At the top end is a flattened ball with a pair of fine rings above and below it. It would normally have finished in a flattened disc (with a diameter similar to that of the ball) and a knob, but the disc and knob are also missing. Apart from this, it is in good condition with a slightly green patina.

Function:
Bronze dress pins were used to join together at the shoulders the two sides of the peplos, a garment made from a single length of woollen material. Surviving examples are usually found in funerary contexts.

Manufacture:
This piece was probably made using the lost-wax method of casting.

Bibliography:
Boardman, J., Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period, a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1978, 67-68 (the peplos).

Coldstream, J. N., Geometric Greece, London, Methuen, 1979 especially 58, 83-84.

Hampe, R. and E. Simon, The Birth of Greek Art: From the Mycenaean to the Archaic Period, New York, Oxford University Press, 1981, 99-111.

Jacobsthal, P., Greek Pins and their Connexions with Europe and Asia, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1956, especially 3-7, 93-119.

Comparanda:
Coldstream, J. N., Geometric Greece, London, Methuen, 1979, Fig. 27, a and b.

Hampe, R. and E. Simon, The Birth of Greek Art: From the Mycenaean to the Archaic Period, New York, Oxford University Press, 1981, Figs. 147, 148.

Jacobsthal, P., Greek Pins and their Connexions with Europe and Asia, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1956, Fig. 12 (Geometric pins with similar elements).