LOT 0342

Corsican Bronze Age Hoard from the Ajaccio Area, Discovered c. 1880–1890

LATE BRONZE AGE, CIRCA 900 B.C.

2 7/8 - 11 3/8 in. (2 kg total, 7.4-29 cm including stands).

Including: a) a dagger or short sword in bronze, with grooves on the blade and semicircular guard, oval pommel with a large, two-tiered button in the centre, two smaller buttons at the ends, and two other buttons on the sides; b) the pommel of a second dagger; c) a small axe in crescent shape ornamented by bosses; d) a harness element shaped like a bronze disc fitted with a spike; e) a large violin bow fibula; f) a small boat fibula, decorated on the surface with lines forming a cross; g) a small arched fibula; h) a large bronze ring, with shape and dimensions of a bracelet; i-j) two smaller rings of rhomboid shape. [10]

Discovered c.1880-90 near Ajaccio, Corsica.
Private collection of Mr Ducasse.
Thence by descent to Jean Dimitri Ducasse (b.1883), Sarrebourg.
Thence by descent.
Belle Vente Meuble et Objets d’Art, Cortot et Associés, 26 November 2022, no.133.
Acquired from the above sale.

Accompanied by a copy of French cultural export passport no.237816.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00228228.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13241-251803.

Forrer, R., ‘Un trésor de bronzes préhistoriques decouvert en Corse’, in Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, 10, 1924, pp.
224-232.

Cf. for similar fibulae, Leichenault, M., ‘Les fibules de l’age du fer corse: aspects methodologiques et etat des recherches’ in Peche-Quilichini, K. (ed.), L’âge du Fer en Corse – Acquis et perspectives. Actes de la Table-Ronde de Serra-di-Scopamena, Serra-di-Scopamena, 2012, pp. 96-106, fig.6 nos.3,4.

According to the examination of R. Forrer, the hoard belonged to the culture of the Shardana, who colonised Sardinia and part of Corsica at the end of the first millennium B.C. Forrer dated the hoard to 900 B.C., a period in which the culture of the Nuraghes of Sardinia was at its zenith. The hoard possibly represents a votive treasure, because the axe is without a hole for insertion in a shaft, although the dagger and the other elements could be perfectly usable in the everyday life of the ancient Sardinian people.