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Details
LOT 1372
Luristan Bronze Dirk
13TH-12TH CENTURY B.C. AND LATER
16 in. (284 grams, 40.5 cm).
Or a dagger with raised flanges to the grip, possibly to accept organic inserts fastened with three nails still in situ (?); later added cuneiform-like inscription and Babylonian Tiamat lion engraved to the blade below the grip on one face. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
Literature
Cf. the type in Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.377, cat.6.
Footnotes
The dirk belongs to Type IIIa bronze dirks of the Medveskaya classification. It was cast in one piece (hilt and blade).
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