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LOT 1096
Ottoman Inscribed Pattern-Welded Yatagan Sabre
C.1800 A.D.
31 1/2 in. (650 grams, 79.5 cm).
With a pattern-welded 'damascened' single-edged T-section blade with swept profile, guard with quadrant profile with rosettes, antler grip with projecting ears; silver-inlaid name panel to one face, with silver-inlaid arabesque panel to the other; blade inscribed with the Arabic year '1172'; silver maker's mark and inscription either side of the blade.
ProvenanceAcquired in the 1970s.
Ex collection of a London gentleman.
See Nicolle, D., Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775-1820, London, 1998; Tirri, A.C., Islamic Weapons: Maghrib to Moghul, Indigo, 2003.
FootnotesThe yatagan is a long knife or short sabre that lacks a guard for the hand at the juncture of blade and hilt, and that usually has a double-curve to the edge and an almost straight back. It was one of the favoured side-arms of the Janissary infantry regiments. Yatagans were carried by the Zeibeks, who lived on the Ionian coast, around Smyrna.
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AUCTIONS:
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Hellenistic Bronze Armour Section with Herakles Fighting Hydra
Circa 4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
Comprising an embossed fragment of a breast-plate from muscle-type armour (thorax statos) representing Herakles fighting against the Hydra of Lerna; three-quarters of the hero's body preserved showing him naked in a dynamic position, wearing a fluttering short cloak (chlamys), overlooking the body of the monster of which the long tail covered with scales and fins is visible; fragment of cloak preserved separately. 122 grams total, 3.4-17.5 cm
Good portion of armour, extremely rare
Acquired on the French art market before 2000. From an EU collection before 2020.
This kind of armour is very rare, especially for this period, when most of the attested armour is plain or only slightly decorated. The young Herakles appears in heroic nudity running to the right, but, as on the cheek-piece from Gurlo, his head was probably turned in the opposite direction. The plasticism of the scene finds a good match in the Thracian tradition of the representation of weapons and armour, and the embossed elements with the highly prized work of the Panagyurishte treasure. The warrior-theme and the representation of Herakles or other fighting scenes on the Thracian and Hellenistic armours was a reference to the spirit of the immortal fighter. -
Roman Iron Military Plumbata Head
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Missile weapon with short iron shaft and square-section barbed head, lead sleeve to the lower end of the shaft. 116 grams, 19 cm
From the collection of B. Posey, UK, 1990s.
The lead-weighted darts known as plumbatae mamillatae, (or breasted javelin) were short darts mounted upon a shaft, of the same shape, and thrown from a short distance. A Roman soldier would typically carry around 5-6 of these darts at any one time, fastened to the back of his shield. They could be thrown overhand or underhand, with an effective throwing range of up to 60 meters by trained soldiers. They could also be fixed upon longer shafts. -
Byzantine Iron Horse Bit
14th-15th century A.D.Estimate: £150 - 200 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £83
Composed of arched openwork shanks with looped terminals; one end fitted with large hoops and bar between; one end with a tripartite mouthpiece comprising two collared bars connected by a central hoop; Byzantine or early Ottoman. 340 grams, 19.5 cm
Fine condition.
Collection of Dr. Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke (1928-2017), author of ‘Schmuck Aus Drei Jahrtausenden’ and who became the director of the Museum of Klingenmuseum in Solingen, Germany, in 1968; the collection was formed in the early 1960s. From an important private Dutch collection.
This type of horse bit is visible on one of the most important equestrian artworks of the 15th century - the Cappella dei Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli, a painting representing the Three Kings visiting Christ, depicted in costumes belonging to the early quarter of the 15th century. All the cavalrymen in the artwork had heavy curb-bits (with short and curved shanks, as in our specimen) and heavy, single reins.
