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LOT 1651
Luristan Bronze Spearhead Group
13TH-11TH CENTURY B.C.
10 1/4 - 11 1/4 in. (300 grams total, 26.2-28.7 cm).
Comprising a tanged spearhead with heavily ridged and tapered blade, short collared shaft and square-section tapered tang bent at the tip; a spearhead with foliate narrow blade, short tang with fastening hole.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
See Khorasani M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, items 279,282, for the types.
FootnotesBoth types of spearheads were found in Amlash and Marlik, and are connected with the types 1 and 2 of the Khorasani classification. The type 1 is characterised by a bent tang and was the evolution of a typology which began much earlier in Mesopotamia and the fertile crescent, the type 4 of the Stronach classification, with straight square-section tang, usually thickened at the base with a button tang.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1651
Luristan Bronze Spearhead Group
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
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Western Asiatic Bronze Spearheads
14th-10th century B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
The leaf-shaped ovate blade with rounded, gently curved shoulders and raised midrib, flat rectangular-sectioned tang tapering to a bent end with a fastening button; in one specimen the tang is protruding from the 'blade sheath'. 507 grams total, 26-27.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Similar spearheads were excavated in the Marlik Royal cemetery by Dr Negahban, see for example in tomb 47, Trench XXIIE. They were the evolution of a typology which began much earlier in Mesopotamia and the fertile crescent, the type 4 of the Stronach classification, with straight tang and square section, usually thickened at the base with a button tang. The foliate blade was wide and exaggerated in some specimens excavated at Marlik. -
North-Western Persian Bronze Short Sword with Spherical Pommel
Late 2nd-early 1st millennium B.CSold for (Inc. bp): £247
The hilt with flanged pommel, round grip with horizontal flange, crescentic guard, long foliate blade with rectangular-section mid-rib. 910 grams, 47.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Moorey studied pommelled swords and attributed their production to north-western Iran, dating them to the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. Dimensions of these swords varied from circa 49 cm (Khorasani, 2006, p.395) to 74 cm (sword in the Ashmolean Museum). While the blade belongs to the usual typology, like the penannular guard, the fashion of the pommel is unusual. -
Luristan Bronze Sword
Late 2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
With solid cast hilt and penannular guard, a massive grip with a later mushroom pommel, blade with central flat midrib tapering to a sharp tip. 967 grams, 52.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This sword is typical of the North-Western Iranian regions at the end of 2nd millennium B.C. Corresponding specimens found in Amarlu or other localities (Gheshlag Mazandaran Province) show that they were fitted with hollow-cast bronze mushroom pommels. The hilt was solid cast with penannular guard, and the blade was usually multi-fullered, but the specimen from Northern Iran published by Khorasani is fitted with a single fuller like our sword.
