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Details
LOT 0326
Luristan Bronze Short Sword with Blood Channels
14TH-10TH CENTURY B.C.
18 1/2 in. (1.31 kg total, sword: 47 cm long).
Triangular blade with raised midrib flanked by shallow grooves extending from the integral lower-guard to the tip; the lower guard with raised coffee bean-shaped bosses to both sides; grooved handle with raised ribs and a large openwork crescentic pommel bearing a similar decoration to the blade at the top; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
Provenance
Ex Rabi Gallery, London, UK, 1980s.
From a private Surrey, UK, 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.12606-234422.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Literature
Cf. for similar examples, Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, p.14, no.14; Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg (2003) in Russian, pl.VI, no.34, from Luristan; Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 2, London, 2004, pp.23-24, no.23; Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, figs.43-44, for similar, from Marlik.
Footnotes
The now empty cavities of the handle were once filled with organic material.
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