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LOT 1452
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Group
13TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
4 3/4 - 6 in. (200 grams total, 12-15.3 cm).
Comprising mainly tanged arrowheads including various types of leaf-shaped heads with midribs. [6]
ProvenanceAcquired 1990s.
From the collection of a late Japanese weaponry collector.
See for similar arrowheads Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, pp.289ff. nos.398, 403; Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, items 449,467, for some of the types represented here.
FootnotesThe barbed arrowhead seems to belong to the type V, subcategory type C, according to the classification of Khorasani and Negahban. In the four categories of triangular bronze arrowheads from Luristan, Marlik and Northern Iran individuated by Negahban, subtypes C and D of type V are larger arrow or javelin heads, C large triangular arrowheads with barbed shoulders and D with lanceolate shape and rounded midrib. The straight shoulders recalls a Marlik typology (see Khorasani, 2006, p.307, fig.379).
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Western Asiatic Spiked Bronze Macehead Group
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £3,000 - 4,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,500
Comprising: one with two unaligned rows, each with four horizontal spikes, topped by a tooth helping to secure the mace to a wooden shaft; the second with a long socket and a row of six spikes, three pointed and three rounded, double tipped edge for securing the shaft; the third with six horizontal spikes; all with solid heads and hollow tubular sockets; of North-West Iranian typology. 1.35 kg total, 10-15 cm
Acquired from Artemis Gallery, Munich in 1995. European private collection. 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.11997-211853.
A variety of similar bronze mace heads have been recovered in Hasanlu and Marlik, mainly of spiked variety. Excavations at 8th-7th century B.C. War Kabud and Chamzhi-Mumah in Luristan have produced related types, with smaller spikes or knobs and with an elongated socket, like one of our examples. These spiked maces are a specifically Iranian type. In general, they were used from the 9th century B.C. although some scholars support the thesis of their use in the late 2nd-early 1st millennium based on finds from Marlik. -
Roman Bronze Belt Mount Group
2nd-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Comprising: a rectangular plaque with stepped void openwork and scrolled ends; a rectangular mount with rectangular and circular voids; a piriform mount with central void, trefoil to the interior; pierced twice for attachment; a pendant with broad loop, D-shaped plaque with three-lobed void. 70 grams total, 40-74 mm
Acquired before 1980. Ex London, UK collector. Property of a Scottish collector, acquired in 2013.
Belt of Antonine Age incorporated openwork designs, many of which show traces of Celtic decorative influence. According to Bishop & Coulston, these fittings were recognisable as the prototypes for those excavated in the 3rd century Roman military sites. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Biconvex body with impressed bands to the shoulder, domed filler-hole, gesso and painted surface, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 575 grams, 15.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. 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.
