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LOT 0337
Viking Age Volga Bulgar Bronze Belt Mount Collection
10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
3/4 - 1 3/8 in. (525 grams total, mounts: 21-34 mm).
Comprising: twenty-seven fittings of polygonal shape with reserved stylised vegetal forms; one belt buckle of similar shape and decoration on the preserved part of the barb; a roundel; a narrow polygonal belt-tip; attachment rivets to reverse; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [29]
ProvenanceAcquired on the London art market, 1990s.
Private collection, London.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12621-234052.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Historical Museum, Moscow, The road of Varangians to Greeks and Greece (In Russian and English), Moscow, 1996, nos.232-237, 422, for similar mounts.
FootnotesPentagonal strap mounts decorated with schematic plant ornaments, cast in bronze, characterised the population of Volga Bulgars, often in commercial relations with the Viking world. A belt-set with pentagonal and rectangular mounts decorated with plant ornaments, along with its strap end and buckle, were excavated by V.D. Sokolov in Slavic-Scandinavian graves in Russian territory.
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LOT 0337
Viking Age Volga Bulgar Bronze Belt Mount Collection
Estimate £1,800 - 2,400€2,090 - 2,780 (for guidance only)$2,430 - 3,240 (for guidance only)
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Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Piriform in profile with narrow point and domed mouth; the body with vertical bands of concentric circles separated by annulets in groups of three. 473 grams, 11.3 cm
From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 1990s onwards. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form. -
Hellenistic Bronze Cuirass Section
3rd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Possibly an upper right front element of a composite cuirass for a cataphract (armoured horseman), part of the edge around the neck and shoulders still preserved although fragmentary, part of the clasps for attaching the back section still visible. 245 grams, 22.6 cm
UK private collection, acquired in 1996. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
A near complete armour for cataphract was found in the French excavations in Al-Khanoum, a Hellenistic city in Afghanistan. The cavalry of Seleucid, Ptolemaic and other Hellenistic Kingdoms formed regiments of heavy armoured horsemen, who in the west, employed a combination of lamellar and segmented armour together with muscled armour of Greek type. Cataphract armour in the West had more Greek elements, for example more plate armour and less scale and lamellar. -
Hellenistic Rhodian Lead Slingshot with Bee
3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
Lentoid-section and depicting a bee to one side and inscription 'ΚΑΛΑ' on the other. 27.2 grams, 31 mm
From a Manchester, UK, collection, 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The slingshots with an inscription ΚΑΛΑ are believed to originate from the Island of Rhodes. On these sling bullets ΚΑΛΑ should be translated as “nice things.” Together with the Balearic slingers, Rhodian slingers were considered to be the best of the Hellenistic world, and they were also used in the Roman army.
