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LOT 0289
Elamite Spiked Bronze Macehead with Bulls
LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
5 3/4 in. (349 grams, 14.5 cm).
With three adjoining bull heads in high relief to the top, with three ears and three horns serving all the three heads; the horns curving towards the rim of the the closed top; the shaft adorned with vertical rows of pointed spikes; hollow socket tube with ring collar at the base.
Provenancewith a London, UK gallery, 1971-early 2000s.
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 number no.11997-22061.
Cf. Mahboubian, H., Art of Ancient Iran, Copper and Bronze, London, 1997, fig.175, p.168, for a very similar type; see also Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron, Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, no.394, for similar typology; Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, in Russian, for discussion on maces and for a sceptre with similar head from Elam (plate XXXI, no.85).
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0289
Elamite Spiked Bronze Macehead with Bulls
Estimate £1,800 - 2,400€2,090 - 2,780 (for guidance only)$2,430 - 3,240 (for guidance only)
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Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £182
Piriform body with domed filler-hole, the upper body with rows of circular indentations; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 478 grams, 10.5 cm
From a specialist collection of militaria, London, UK, collected 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. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
A ceramic missile, piriform in profile with band of impressed rings to the equator and larger ring-and-dot motifs beneath, domed filler-hole above, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 829 grams, 14.6 cm
From a military inspired collection formed from the 1990s. 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 Integral Hilted Bronze Short Sword
Late 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £300 - 400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
With a broad, lentoid-section flat blade, rounded tip, sloping sides, well marked shoulders with wide but short tang. 713 grams, 43.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The sword finds similarity with the one from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. This is the most primitive form of dagger, consisting of a simple, pointed blade having slightly convex outline shoulders sloping to a short tang which has no rivets, and was probably hafted to wood with bitumen. Examples of the type come from Kish, Ur, dated to the 'Jemdet Nasr Period,' while the Ur date from the Early Dynastic to Sargonic Periods.
