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LOT 0325
Villanovan Bronze Helmet
8TH CENTURY B.C.
12 in. (1.7 kg, 30.5 cm wide).
With rounded bowl and flared rim; three sets of paired piercings for attachment of leather cheek-flaps; cracked; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceAcquired early 1990s.
Ex private American collection; thence by descent.
Private European collection since 1998.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11573-199009.
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. Coussin, P., Les Armes Romaines, Paris, 1926; Connolly, P., Greece and Rome at War, London, 1981; Fossati, I., Etruscan Armies, Milano, 1987, p.50, fig.4; Egg, M., 'Italische Helme mit krempe' in Antike Helme, RGZM Monographien 14, Mainz, 1988, pp.222ff., figs.1, 2, 34 and items 58-59, for type; Sekunda, N., and Northwood, S., Early Roman Armies, Oxford, 1995; Connolly, P., Greece and Rome at War, London, 2006; D'Amato, R., Salimbeti, A., The Etruscans, Oxford, 2018, pp.21ff. and pl.B3; D’Amato, R., Negin, A., Decorated Roman Armour, London, 2017, pp.8ff. and fig.2.
FootnotesThe ‘pot’ or ‘bell’ helmet, found in contexts as early as the 8th century coffer grave (ad arca) from the Esquiline (Rome) and other graves (Coussin, 1926, p.88, fig.23; Sekunda, Northwood,1995, p.6, grave 94) was made from a single piece of bronze, while later Italic variants were fashioned from jointed plates (Connolly, 1981, p.102, figs.2-2a; Egg, 1988, p.223, variant Vetulonia). The skull was somewhat spherical, with a flared rim: in some Etruscan and Italic specimens, this was rivetted for strength.
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Western Asiatic Bronze Short Sword with Integral Hilt
Late 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £150 - 200 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £80
With a broad, lentoid-section flat blade, rounded tip, sloping sides, well marked shoulders with short, wide tang. 881 grams, 42 cm
Acquired on the UK art market before 2000. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The sword has similarities with a specimen from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. This is the most primitive form of dagger, consisting of a simple, pointed blade having slightly convex outline shoulders sloping to a short tang which has no rivets, and was probably hafted to wood with bitumen. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead Collection
19th-6th century B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £56
Including triangular, leaf-shaped, barbed, paddle-shaped with a flat, comparatively wide mid-rib, and others. 176 grams total, 25-77 mm
Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Some of the represented arrowheads (paddle-shaped) were typical of the Old Babylonian Empire. The shoulders were pronounced and the arrowhead had a rectangular-section tapering tang. This simple form was popular throughout and are comparatively common finds in the Holy Land. -
Viking Age Bearded Battle Axehead
Early 11th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
A Baltic hand-forged iron axehead with scooped socket, broad blade with extension to the lower edge, hole to the blade. 532 grams total, axe: 14.7 cm
Acquired on the London art market, 1990s. Private collection, London. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The more common weapons of Finno-Ugrian people were axes, commonly found from all Finnic areas, as well as spears. Among Baltic-Finnic people, especially in Finland and Karelia, knives called 'puukko' were common, as well as axes, spears, flat bows and longbows, while swords were usually imported from Germanic areas, Sweden or from elsewhere Scandinavia, some having often typically Scandinavian animal ornaments. Iron axeheads of this typology show a sub-trapezoidal asymmetrical blade, often perforated through the centre. They are characterised by two projecting spurs from the top and the bottom of the back of the shaft-hole.
