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LOT 1558
Luristan Bronze Macehead
13TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
3 7/8 in. (416 grams, 98 mm).
Comprising a cylindrical shaft with flared mouth, rounded flanges around the swollen head, horizontal stepped bands; Sara Gorz type. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Musé Cernuschi, Bronzes du Luristan: Enigmes De L'Iran Ancien IIIe-Ier millénaire ac. j.-c., Paris musées, 2008, p.103, for type.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Viking Iron Pattern-Welded Sword
8th-9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,450
Double-edged cutting sword of Petersen type A with a finely tapering blade, showing pattern-welding; upper and lower guards with strongly curved sides; the cross-guard boat-shaped with an acute tapering tang; the pommel attached with two nails to the original boat-shaped upper guard. 809 grams, 85.5 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. 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 no. 13064-249347.
Petersen originally individuated eight examples of this sword’s typology, one of the first categories of Viking swords, although these swords were also widely used in the Carolingian Empire and widespread among the Italic population as well (frescoes from the Necropolis of S.Andrea Priu, Sardegna, 8th or 9th century AD), where specimens are still attested in the 10th century A.D (D’Amato-Salimbeti, 2020, p.23). The evenly wide, three-sided pommel, narrower than the guard, was the most characteristic element of such swords, and in some cases it was divided into three segments, or even seven segments (swords from Neri, Opstryn s., Stryn, Nordfjord). Thes tend to be confused with the similar pommels of the swords of H typology (Petersen, 1919, pp.89ff.), but in these latter swords the guards are wider and with an elliptical cross-section. -
Luristan Bronze Socketted Spearhead
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
Comprising a lentoid-section, leaf-shaped blade with tapering socket. 285 grams, 38 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1990s. -
North-Western Persian Bronze Blade
Circa 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
With a long tapering blade having rounded shoulders and a prominent mid-rib, the tang bent over at the tip with a round stud terminal. 230 grams, 33.5 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.
The metalworking techniques used in making bronze weapons in early Iran were very complex. Surfaces were often finished in repoussé work, and some of the weapons were chased, others engraved. The ruling elites of warrior horsemen were buried with their weapons and horses.
