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LOT 1144
Marlik Bronze Arrowhead Group
12TH-10TH CENTURY B.C.
4 - 6 in. (106 grams total, 10.2-15.2 cm).
Comprising four tanged arrowheads, with large bronze elongated triangular blades and raised midrib, sharp central groove, cylindrical stem with handle for the shaft; three with barbed shoulders and convex sides. [4]
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
See Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, figure 467, for the main type.
FootnotesSome of these arrowheads seem to belong to the type V, subcategory type C, according to the classification of Khorasani and Negahban. In the four categories of triangular bronze arrowheads from Luristan, Marlik and Northern Iran individuated by Negahban, subtypes C and D of type V are larger arrow or javelin heads, C with barbed shoulders and D with round shoulders.
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AUCTIONS:
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Ghaznavid Iron Knife with Calligraphic Inlays
10th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Composed of a C-shaped socketted hilt and slender blade with single cutting edge slightly curved towards the tip; the outer face of the socket, the top edge and one side of the blade inlaid with gilt inscription, the other side of the blade displaying two gilt felines. 91 grams, 31.5 cm
London collection since the 1980s. Property of a Canadian family.
The gilding process used on the blade seems to be an exceptionally rare example of what was known in medieval Islamic literary sources as ‘gold water’. The blade seems to have been decorated with a Kufic inscription to three sides. It bears witness to the extraordinary sophistication of the metalworkers and jewellers of this period. -
Heavy Western Asiatic Leaf-Shaped Spearhead
14th-10th century B.C.Estimate: £600 - 800 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £300
The leaf-shaped ovate blade with rounded, gently curved shoulders and raised midrib, flat rectangular-sectioned tang tapering to a sharply bent end with a fastening button. 844 grams, 46.2 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. -
Luristan Bronze Spearhead Blade
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
With a short tang and long blade, raised midrib, a rivet to the base. 254 grams, 33 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The spearhead belongs to type 2 according to the classification of Khorasani. A similar specimen was excavated by Negahban in Marlik.
