Fibula (Pin) (400–200 BCE): Art, History and Details

Fibula (Pin) (400–200 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This extravagant fibula, likely used to fasten garments, is decorated with gold rosettes and vines. An enormous leech-shaped bow and pin form the body of the fibula. A band of rosettes adorns the center of the bow. Above the bow, a gold plaque is adorned with an eight-petaled flower and palmette filigree. A gold bead, perhaps representing a pomegranate, tops the plaque. The bead is crowned with oblong petals and sprouting leaves.

Object facts

• Title: Fibula (Pin)
• Date: 400–200 BCE
• Culture: South Italy, Campania
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Overall: 8 cm (3 1/8 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1947.504

A detail from the museum

This fibula’s elaborate surface includes soldered gold wire and granulated spheres.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Galerie Fischer. Griechische, etruskische und römische Altertümer: Vasen, Terrakotten, Bronzen (Ausgrabungen von Boscoreale), Silberfund, Gläser, Waffen, pompejanische Fresken, Schmuck, Mumienporträt, Goldmünzen; Marmorfiguren und Reliefs (Venus Anadyomene; Alexander-Schlactrelief usw.); römische Tische, Sarkophag und anderes antikes Kunstgewerbe. 1936.
• The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d.
• Neugass, Fritz. "Kostbarer Schmuck der Alexandreneschen Zeit," Die Weltkunst (January 15, 1966).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.