A SAMNITE BRONZE WARRIOR’S PANOPLY
A SAMNITE BRONZE WARRIOR’S PANOPLY
A SAMNITE BRONZE WARRIOR’S PANOPLY
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A SAMNITE BRONZE WARRIOR’S PANOPLY
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A SAMNITE BRONZE WARRIOR’S PANOPLY

LATE CLASSICAL TO HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 400-200 B.C.

Details
A SAMNITE BRONZE WARRIOR’S PANOPLY
LATE CLASSICAL TO HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 400-200 B.C.
Helmet: 11 1⁄8 in. (28.2 cm.) high; breast-plate: 11 ¾ in. (29.8 cm.) high; belt: 11 ¼ in. (28.5 cm.) diameter; ankle-guards: 9 5⁄8 in. (24.4 cm.) long (larger)
Provenance
Axel Guttmann (1944-2001), Berlin (Inv. nos. AG174/H30 (helmet); AG009/R3 (breast-plate); AG229/R45 (belt); AG217/R44 (ankle-guards).
Antiken der Sammlung Axel Guttmann, Auktion 54, Hermann Historica, Munich, 11 April 2008, lot 344.
Christian Levett, London, acquired from the above on behalf of the Mougins Museum of Classical Art.
Literature
M. Burns, "Graeco-Italic Militaria," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 224, figs. 117-119 (breast-plate, greaves and belt).
S. Davis, "Museum Watch," France Today, October-November 2013, p. 15 (helmet).
K.A. Kazek, Chasseurs & Gladiateurs: L'épopée des héros de l'arène, Saint-Martin-des-Entrées, 2019, p. 19 (breast-plate).
R. Hixenbaugh, Ancient Greek Helmets: A Complete Guide and Catalog, New York, 2019, p. 498, no. X412 (helmet).
Exhibited
Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011-2023 (Inv. nos. MMoCA170a-d).

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon
Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

Lot Essay

This panoply includes a Chalcidian helmet, the breast-plate from an anatomical cuirass, a belt and a pair of ankle-guards. The helmet has a carinated arch across the forehead, openings for the ears, a slightly-flaring neck-guard and hinged, forward-curving cheek-guards. A plate supporting a ring is riveted to the crown. The breast-plate features highly-stylized musculature, with perforations along the edges likely for attachment of a lining and the remains of fittings by which it was once joined to the now-missing side- and back-plates. The broad belt is likewise perforated along the edges, with the characteristic fittings with stylized palmettes and zoomorphic hooks. The ankle-guards are each fabricated from a hammered leaf-shaped sheet, with carinated ridges along their lengths.

For a similar helmet, found at Ruvo, Apulia, see no. 2002 in E. Babelon and J.-A. Blanchel, Catalogue des Bronzes Antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale. For a complete cuirass, see no. 243 in J. Chamay, The Art of the Italic Peoples from 3000 to 300 B.C.; and for a related belt, see pl. 1.1 in M. Suano, Sabellian-Samnite Bronze Belts in the British Museum.

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