Bronze spectacle fibula (safety pin)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The spectacle fibula is made of a continuous bronze wire wound into two spirals with a figure eight in-between and the two ends forming the pin and catch. Originating in the Hallstatt cultures of central Europe (proto-Celts), spectacle fibulae were widely distributed and imitated from the Balkans, the Danubian region, and northern Greece to the western Adriatic coast and southern Italy, from the beginning of the first Millenium BCE. This fibula most likely comes from southern Italy, where similar examples have been found in elite women’s graves. From the archaeological evidence, they were pinned on each shoulder to hold the garment.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art