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LOT 0338
Luristan Bronze Sword with Mushroom Pommel
LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
23 1/4 in. (790 grams, 59 cm).
The hilt with mushroom-shaped pommel, grip decorated with horizontal flat grooves, crescentic guard, long blade with ridged mid-grip.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
See a similar sword in Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg (2003) in Russian, pl.XIV, no.40, from Luristan; Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, item 24, p.27.
FootnotesThis category of swords has been classified by Khorasani as 'swords with a mushroom pommel' and are usually characterised by a solid-cast hilt with a penannular guard, a ribbed or variously decorated grip and a conical hollow-cast mushroom pommel. Usually the blade is multi-fullered and tapers to a sharp tip. Moorey considers them to be from the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. Gorelik extends the dating to the 8th-7th century B.C.
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AUCTIONS:
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Luristan Bronze Spearhead with Circumferential Rings
9th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
With broad leaf-shaped blade and tapering tubular socket, four graduated horizontal rings securing the split socket. 199 grams total, 26.2 cm including stand
Ex property of a North London, UK, gentleman, 1990s.
The spear belongs to the type VIII classified by Khorasani (spearheads with well-projecting midribs and long folded sockets) and more specifically to subtype C (with leaf-shaped blade and short hollow socket). Usually the willow-leaf blade has an almost straight shoulder base and a wide, flat midrib tapering towards the point. -
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead
13th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Lozengiform in section, triangular in profile with slight barbs to lower edge, stepped neck and short tang. 28.5 grams, 13.2 cm
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; with collection no.BA27; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent. -
Luristan Bronze Spearhead
Early 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
With foliate blade and raised mid-rib with the tang bent at the tip. 233 grams, 26.7 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
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.
