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LOT 1495
Chinese Zhou Bronze Socketted Spearhead
ZHOU DYNASTY, 1046-256 B.C.
12 1/2 in. (250 grams, 32 cm).
With thick midrib, leaf-shaped blade with lateral spurs, deep tubular socket with fastening hole for the attachment to the wooden shaft.
ProvenanceAcquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.
Cf. Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, in Russian, (plate XXXVIII nos.47-48, for a similar spearhead from Wuchengqiao, country of Liuhe, Prov. Jiangsu, and Fengshuiling, near Changzhen, prov. Shanxi.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1495
Chinese Zhou Bronze Socketted Spearhead
Estimate £450 - 650€520 - 750 (for guidance only)$610 - 880 (for guidance only)
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Greek Lead Slingshot Group
4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
Each lentoid with thick casting seam to the rim. 131 grams total, 26-31 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Viking Iron Pattern-Welded Sword
8th-9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,450
Double-edged cutting sword of Petersen type A with a finely tapering blade, showing pattern-welding; upper and lower guards with strongly curved sides; the cross-guard boat-shaped with an acute tapering tang; the pommel attached with two nails to the original boat-shaped upper guard. 809 grams, 85.5 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. Accompanied by an academic report by 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. 13064-249347.
Petersen originally individuated eight examples of this sword’s typology, one of the first categories of Viking swords, although these swords were also widely used in the Carolingian Empire and widespread among the Italic population as well (frescoes from the Necropolis of S.Andrea Priu, Sardegna, 8th or 9th century AD), where specimens are still attested in the 10th century A.D (D’Amato-Salimbeti, 2020, p.23). The evenly wide, three-sided pommel, narrower than the guard, was the most characteristic element of such swords, and in some cases it was divided into three segments, or even seven segments (swords from Neri, Opstryn s., Stryn, Nordfjord). Thes tend to be confused with the similar pommels of the swords of H typology (Petersen, 1919, pp.89ff.), but in these latter swords the guards are wider and with an elliptical cross-section. -
Luristan Bronze Axehead
12th-11th century B.C.Estimate: £300 - 400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
A spike-butted axehead with a short cylindrical socket with four furrowed ribs leading to four short spikes, blade with curved upper and lower edges and a convex cutting edge. 390 grams, 22 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.
It is difficult to know whether this type of axe, given its high decoration in some specimens, was used as a weapon or was a symbol of rank and prestige, employed for ceremonial or cult purposes. However, considering that the concept of parade weapons did not exist in the surrounding areas in Antiquity, these axes were most probably used for both military and ceremonial purposes.
