Details

LOT 1433

Very Large Tanged Bronze Spear

1900-1650 B.C.

28 3/4 in. (1.06 kg, 73 cm).

Each side rising to a pointed ridge, curved tang for attaching to a shaft. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Comstock, M., Vermeule Cornelius, Greek, Etruscan & Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, New York, 1971, p.397, no. 555, for similar; D'Amato, R., Salimbeti, A., Early Aegean Warrior 5000-1450 BC, Oxford, 2013, p.13, for similar specimens in the British Museum; cf. also Gernez, G., L’armament en métal au Proche et Moyen-Orient: des origines a 1750 av. J.C., Paris, 2007, fig.2.81, p.284.

Footnotes

The characteristic point is the hooked tang, the end of which was fitted with a button. The spear was inserted into a wooden barrel and then held in place with a series of leather laces (Gernez, 2007, p.312).