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LOT 1536
Luristan Bronze Spearhead
12TH-11TH CENTURY B.C.
13 1/4 in. (285 grams, 33.5 cm).
With broad leaf-shaped blade and tapering square-section tang, flanged neck.
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.
Cf. Khorasani M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.243, item 279, p.630.
FootnotesThe weapon belongs to type I of the Khorasani classification. Similar weapons have been excavated in Marlilk by Professor Negahban and dated by Stutzinger to the late 13th-early 12th century B.C.
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Medieval Bronze Archer's Thumb Ring
14th-15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
With a D-section hoop, triangular extension with incised decoration. 2.99 grams, 24.04 mm overall, 19.35 mm internal diameter (approximate size British R, USA 8 1/2, Europe 18 3/4, Japan 18)
From an English collection formed before 2000. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Dagger Group
2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £124
With a narrow pointed blade and wide shallow raised flange to the centre, straight sides, well marked shoulders with narrow tang, one rivet hole still preserved in one specimen. 358 grams total, 20.7-33.5 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.
The type was technically more advanced than previous types of blades in the Near East, owing to the shape of the weapon, with its slightly convex sides widening out near the point, which combined the advantages of the leaf-shaped and straight-sided forms. This kind of dagger was used in the early second millennium in Mesopotamia and in Syria, and as late as the mid-first millennium in Luristan. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
A large piriform missile with domed filler-hole, a band of impressed annulets to the shoulder and circumferential bands to the lowed body, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 957 grams, 15.2 cm
From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 1990s onwards. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Cf. Arendt, W. I., Granaten des 13-14. Jahrhunderts, die an der Wolga gefunden sind, Zeitschrift fur Historische Waffen-und Kostumkunde, 11 (1926-8), p.42; cf. Arendt, W., Die Spharisch-konischen Gefäße aus Gebranntem Ton, ibid; cf. Ayalon, D., Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom, London, 1956, p.16. Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form.
