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LOT 1655
Luristan Bronze Sword
LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
20 1/8 in. (508 grams, 51.1 cm).
The grip decorated with horizontal flat grooves and raised aediculae, crescentic guard, long blade with ridged flat mid-grip.
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 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 for the type; 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, here lost. 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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