Western Asiatic Bronze Dagger with Openwork Hilt and Scabbard

2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.

12 1/4 in. (434 grams total, dagger: 31.2 cm).

Comprising a long slender blade with a stepped mid-rib and narrow point, waisted openwork tubular hilt with domed pommel, transverse scaphoid-section guard; narrow sheet-bronze scabbard with flared mouth (cracked); mounted on a custom-made stand. [2]

Provenance

Acquired on the UK art market, 1990s-2000s.
Private collection, London, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13464-262414.

Literature

Cf. Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 2, London, 2004, item 36, p.33, for similar grip construction; cf. Mahboubian, H., Art of the Ancient Iran, London, 1997, no.401b,d, for a similar dagger with full scabbard.

Footnotes

The openwork grips of these daggers were created using the lost wax process. The openwork was cut into the original wax, and after casting, it was inlaid with cream-coloured stone, some of which survives. These short daggers were still in use in the Early Median and Achaemenid Periods, between 800 and 600 B.C.

CONDITION

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LOT 0283