Empress Bust Weight, Steelyard, and Collar with Chains
subject: Empress Bust Weight, Steelyard, and Collar with Chains, 5th-7th century, Mixed copper alloy; lead and iron fill in bust, Dimensions: A. weight: 13.6 x 6 x 4.7 cm (5 3/8 x 2 3/8 x 1 7/8 in.) 1441 g B. chains and hooks: 44 x 5.7 cm (17 5/16 x 2 1/4 in.) C. crossbeam with hooks: 39.2 x 1 cm (15 7/16 x 3/8 in.)
description: This fifth- to seventh-century steelyard weight in the shape of an empress represents the most common type of weight used with early Byzantine steelyard scales (1). Earlier scholarship proposed that each weight represented a specific Byzantine empress, but that theory has been overturned in favor of an interpretation of the crowned women as a generic imperial type, perhaps linked to the symbolism of official personifications. The crude outline of the bulky crown is similar to headgear worn by early Byzantine empresses depicted on consular diptychs and marble statuary. She wears a tunic covered by a heavy cloak with deeply grooved folds. Her right hand rests on the edge of the cloak, while her left hand clutches an object variously identified as a scroll or a mappa. As is typical of weights from this time, the bronze is crudely modeled with no modeling on the reverse. This figure was hollow cast with its surface roughly modeled in wax, and then its interior was filled with lead. An iron pin is visible in the base. The steelyard still has two copper alloy chains terminating in large hooks. These hooks extend from a loop with a swiveling mechanism that slides over the steelyard’s crossbeam. The crossbeam has three incised scales and three suspension points (two of which still have hooks). The three sides would have corresponded to three distinct ranges of measurement. The scale corresponding to the innermost suspension point is subdivided into 12 sections, each between 1.8 and 2 cm long and inscribed with three dots. The middle scale is more or less regularly subdivided into 25 sections, each between 0.7 cm and 1 cm long. Most of these sections (or sometimes a larger, double section) are inscribed with three dots. The border between the eleventh and twelfth section is marked by the letter K; the border between the twenty-first and twenty-second by V or Λ (Greek upsilon or lambda). The letters represented Greek numerals. The scale corresponding to the outermost suspensi…
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/320164