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_900x900.jpg "Western Asiatic Bronze Short Sword with Mushroom Pommel")
_200x200.jpg "Western Asiatic Bronze Short Sword with Mushroom Pommel")
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LOT 0265
Western Asiatic Bronze Short Sword with Mushroom Pommel
LATE 2ND-EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C
22 1/4 in. (1.04 kg, 56.5 cm).
The hilt with mushroom-shaped pommel, round grip, crescentic guard, long sloping blade with rectangular-section mid-ridge.
ProvenanceEx London, UK, collection, 1990s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
See a similar sword in Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, item 24, p.27.
FootnotesThis category of swords has been classified by Khorasani as 'swords with a mushroom pommel' and are usually characterised by a solid-cast hilt with a penannular guard, a ribbed or variously decorated grip and the conical hollow-cast mushroom pommel. Usually the blade is multi-fullered and tapers to a sharp tip. Moorey considers them to be from the end of the 2nd millennium B.C.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0265
Western Asiatic Bronze Short Sword with Mushroom Pommel
Estimate £400 - 600€460 - 700 (for guidance only)$540 - 810 (for guidance only)
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Luristan Bronze Spearhead Blade
14th-10th century B.C.Estimate: £250 - 350 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £130
With rounded shoulders and square-sectioned mid-rib running to the blade tip; short tang with fastening hole. 45 grams, 46.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
The spearhead belongs to the type VI spearhead of the Khorasani classification. It is characterised by a long blade and short tang, slightly rounded shoulders and pronounced midrib. Similar weapons were excavated by Prof. Negahban in the royal cemetery of Marlik. -
Talish Bronze Blade
13th-7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Comprising a pointed blade with shallow midrib and concave sides, square shoulders with transverse horizontal ribbed guard, square-section tang with later mushroom pommel. 595 grams, 50 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
These swords developed in the Period of the Wars of the Assyrian Empire. One may also compare the square shoulders and the ribs at the junction of hilt and blade here visible (and also visible on blades from Talish) with the Gandzha-Karabagh culture swords of Eastern Transcaucasia. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
A piriform missile with domed filler-hole, four raised lugs to the body with impressed lozenges in between, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 497 grams, 14 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.
Cf. Arendt, W. I., Granaten des 13-14. Jahrhunderts, die an der Wolga gefunden sind, Zeitschrift fur Historische Waffen-und Kostumkunde, 11 (1926-8), p.42; cf. Arendt, W., Die Spharisch-konischen Gefäße aus Gebranntem Ton, ibid; cf. Ayalon, D., Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom, London, 1956, p.16. 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.
