LATE CLASSICAL TO HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 350-200 B.C.

Details

A GREEK TINNED BRONZE CHALCIDIAN HELMET
LATE CLASSICAL TO HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 350-200 B.C.
12 ½ in. (31.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany, acquired by the early 1990s.
with Wolfgang Wilhelm, F.A.C. Kunsthandel, Frankfurt.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above, 2005 (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XVIII, 2007, no. 81).
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2008.

Literature

D. Sim and J. Kaminski, Roman Imperial Armour: The Production of Early Imperial Military Armour, Oxford, 2011, p. 123, pl. 7.
M. Burns, "Graeco-Italic Militaria," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 203, fig 67.
R. Hixenbaugh, Ancient Greek Helmets: A Complete Guide and Catalog, New York, 2019, p. 480, no. X271.

Exhibited

Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA155).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

hsolomon@christies.com +1 212 636 2256

Lot Essay

This exceptional helmet is features a peaked dome, carinated ridge, short nose-guard and hinged scalloped cheek-guards. It is formed from hammered bronze sheet and then tinned, providing it with a beautiful silvery hue. It is rare for a helmet to preserve its original tinned surface, providing us a glimpse to how helmets would have appeared to warriors nearly 2,500 years ago.

This example belongs to Pflug’s Chalcidian Type V (Kunze-Gruppe VII; see “Chalkidische Helme,” in A. Bottini, et al., eds., Antike Helme). Several similar examples of this type have been found in the northern Black Sea area (see pp. 480-481 in Hixenbaugh, op. cit.).

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