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LOT 1453
Eastern Roman Tinned Bronze Composite Belt Mount
8TH CENTURY A.D.
3 5/8 in. (27.9 grams, 93 mm).
Displaying openwork floriate decoration within a tongue-shaped frame; two pierced attachment lugs to the rear.
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Daim, F., Die Awaren am Rand der Byzantinischen Welt (The Avars on the Border of the Byzantine World), Bad Vöslau, 2000, figs.1-2,37,112.
FootnotesThe belt is of composite type, decorated with scrollwork in Byzantine style. Many authors discuss the possibility that these belts were produced in the Eastern Roman capital or that they were made in the workshops of the Avar Khaganate, maybe with Roman matrices for producing sheet ornaments.
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LOT 1453
Eastern Roman Tinned Bronze Composite Belt Mount
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
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Mesopotamian Veined Mottled Grey Stone Macehead
3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Piriform with vertical socket expanding towards the narrower end; polished surface. 424 grams, 72 mm
Ex 1990s collection and with a central London gallery. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Ovoid in profile with scrolled linear decoration and impressed pellets; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and a wick, and used as a hand grenade. 400 grams, 10.7 cm
From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 1990s onwards. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead Collection
19th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Including triangular, leaf-shaped, barbed, paddle-shaped with a flat, comparatively wide mid-rib, and others. 176 grams total, 25-77 mm
Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Some of the represented arrowheads (paddle-shaped) were typical of the Old Babylonian Empire. The shoulders were pronounced and the arrowhead had a rectangular-section tapering tang. This simple form was popular throughout and such items are comparatively common finds in the Holy Land.
