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LOT 0298
Luristan Bronze Horse Bit
9TH-8TH CENTURY B.C.
6 7/8 in. (543 grams, 17.5 cm).
The cheekpieces formed as winged deer with horns and small ears, a circular opening to the body for the bar to pass through, two loops and studs to the reverse; the bar with looped circular terminals.
ProvenanceEx old English collection.
London art market, pre 2000.
Property of a Lonodon, UK, gentleman.
Cf. Haerink, E., Overlaet, B., 'Finds from Khatunban B – Badavar Valley (Luristan) in the Iran Bastan Museum' in Iranica Antiqua, January 2004, pp.105-168, pl.5, for a similar.
FootnotesThe most admirable horse bits ever created by man are undoubtedly those from Luristan, a province which extended along the valleys that make up the central part of the Zagros mountains. Worked in cast bronze with the lost wax process, they almost always had a rigid cannon in round or square bars which were flattened and rolled up around themselves at the ends, but their exceptional feature were the figural side bars. The local metalsmiths, in a period of time between 1200 and 700 B.C. managed to create an infinite number of typologies: horses, oxen, ibex, roosters and various mythological animals.
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Officer's Presentation Sword with Islamic Script
Circa 1798 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
British infantry officer's sword - 1796 pattern with lion-head pommel and knuckle-guard, short curved quillon to the rear; leather scabbard with brass fittings and escutcheon below the frog with the legend 'R. Johnston / late / Bland & Foster / Sword Cutler / & Belt Maker to his / Majesty / -68- / St. James's St/ London'; guilloche detailing to the border and to the langets; hollow-ground blade with inlaid brass Arabic script to both faces, possibly a trophy from the Battle of the Nile in August, 1798. 1.23 kg, 95 cm total
From a Suffolk, UK, private collection.
Richard Johnston took over the sword- and belt-making business from John Bland, who died in 1791, and his surviving partner, Robert Foster, who died in 1798. After Bland's death, Foster and Johnston moved their premises from 70 St. James's Street to number 68 in the same street, and continued the business until Foster's death in 1798, after which Johnston took on another shop, then displaying the address as '38 & 68 St. James's Street'. The cartouche gives the address as '68 St. James's Street', which shows that the sword was produced, finished and sold in 1798. -
Greek Fragmentary Bronze Pilos Helmet
5th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,015
Conical in shape, comprising a thick hammered bowl and broad rim with carination to the upper edge; remains of crest at brow and rear; a restoration project. 951 grams total, 1-24.5 cm
Ex Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, Germany [1944-2001]. with Hermann Historica, 13 October 2010, lot 2169 [Part].
This type of helmet (called ‘bell-helmet’ by Connolly, 1981, p.70), named pilos after the Greek felt cap (in the Laconian shape, but distinguished from the cap by the noticeable point and the shape of the rim), had a conical shape and was pointed or rounded at the top. Its introduction was linked with the streamlining of Hoplite equipment, and it soon the replaced the closed Corinthian helmet. The helmet was widespread in the Greek and Mediterranean world from the last quarter of the 5th century B.C. and was widely used by continental Greeks, South Italian Greeks and Italic people, Etruscans, and even Romans. -
North-West Persian Bronze Short Sword with Blood Channels
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £300 - 400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
Shaped as a two-edged bronze blade, leaf-shape with short rectangular tang with fastening hole, corrugated midrib extending almost to the tip and flared at the shoulder. 439 grams, 44.2 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The metalworking techniques used in making bronze weapons in Luristan were very complex. Surfaces were often finished in repoussé work, and some of the weapons were chased and others engraved. Many of the graves dating from the era of Kassite hegemony contain bronze and iron artefacts, including various type of weapons. These swords with shallow fullers tapering to a sharp tip have been dated by P.R.S. Moorey to the end of the 2nd millennium B.C.
