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Details
LOT 0263
Luristan Bronze Sword
LATE 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
20 3/4 in. (967 grams, 52.5 cm).
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.
Provenance
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.
Literature
Cf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, items 33, 34, and especially 35, pp. 394-395, for the type.
Footnotes
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.
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