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LOT 1444
Canaanite Bronze Dirk
13TH-12TH CENTURY B.C.
13 3/8 in. (174 grams, 34 cm).
With lentoid-section blade, tongue-shaped in plan, integral tapering hilt with flared finial, lateral flanges to accept a panel of bone or wood to each face forming the grip.
ProvenanceEx Joseph J. Gancie (1923-2010), Washington, Silver Spring, Maryland.
with Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc., sale 1035, 27 January 2013, lot 162a.
Cf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.377, cat.6.
FootnotesThe dirk belongs to the type III in the Medvedskaya classification, used in Near East from the 13th to the 6th century B.C. The type is the 32a of the Maxwell-Hyslop study. The Asiatic daggers of this type are confined to Syria and Persia, but Transcaucasia also provides an interesting analogy from Kalekent on the Baku peninsula, where a pointed straight-sided dagger blade has a flanged hilt with the whole of the side flanges bent over the centre.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1444
Canaanite Bronze Dirk
Estimate £400 - 600€460 - 700 (for guidance only)$540 - 810 (for guidance only)
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Luristan Bronze Spearhead
13th-7th century B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £40
With broad leaf-shaped blade, thick square-section midrib, flared shoulder and substantial tang. 310 grams, 30 cm
From an old English collection formed in the 1980s. Property of an Essex gentleman; acquired on the UK art market. -
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Khazar Iron Sabre with Gilt Bronze Cross Guard
9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £975
A single-edged hand-forged sabre with a gently curving blade, an iron band welded beneath the cross guard, together with a tongue along the side of the blade; the separate gilt cross guard with spherical ornamented finials to the quillons, the central panel with a stylised face flanked by a pair of leaping lions biting the top of the head, the other side with a lozenge within a ropework frame. 610 grams, 80.5 cm
Fine condition.
Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector. Accompanied by an academic report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.114437-196034.
This exceptional sabre shows similarity with examples from the Caucasus and Kuban regions. The blade could be Khazar-Magyar, and certainly its best parallels are the specimens from Verchne-Szaltovo area. According to M. Gorelik, some of these sabres were produced by the Kabarians, a breakaway tribe from the Khazar State, who formed an alliance with the Magyars. The extra band welded beneath the quillons, together with the side tongue, not only protected the scabbard from being cut by the blade but, more importantly, defended the warrior’s fingers which were wrapped around the quillons when fighting. -
Elamite Bronze Cudgel with Animals
Circa mid 3rd-early 2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £1,200 - 1,700 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £400
With ribbed terminals; the upper body with three relief panels of herringbone design, the main body decorated with spikes, three lion bodies arranged vertically, and three ram-head protomes under the central herringbone panel; mounted on a custom-made stand. 650 grams total, 18.5 cm high (26.5 cm high including stand)
Ex Kuizenga collection, Netherlands. Acquired in Hamburg, Germany, 22 December 1995.
Moorey notes that though the rows of spikes suggest that these objects were designed to be mounted on wooden shafts as cudgels, the projections in the form of lions (?) indicates the possibility that they were also used as votive or parade weapons. However, it does not exclude an effective use on the battlefield, especially if used by commanders as signs of rank.
