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Lot Essay
This impressive and remarkably well-preserved helmet is a highlight of the collection of Mougins Museum of Classical Art and a testament to the artistic ingenuity and technical prowess of armour smiths of the Archaic period beyond the Greek world. Celebrated in a monographic publication in 1991 on the occasion of Axel Guttmann’s 47th birthday, this helmet stands out as one of the most unique examples within the Picenian repertoire and is notable for its embossed decorative scheme and preserved interior lining (for the publication, see Born and Nebelsick, op. cit.)
The basic form – with a hemispherical dome and wide, flaring brim – is characteristic of the Picenian helmet type, but the composite construction is more unusual. The openwork decoration finds parallels in examples from Novilara (see M. Egg, Italische Helme, Studien zu den ältereisenzeitlichen Helmen Italiens und der Alpen). The present helmet is formed of four separate hammered sheets, with the lower dome and brim formed from one piece. The upper dome features a stylized figure flanked by its raised hands and splayed fingers. The ensemble is joined by fifty-four rivets, each with small spherical heads. The figure has a U-shaped head with projecting circular ears; the face is outlined by raised ridges, and the long tapering neck is bisected by a central ridge. The round eyes are convex, with a simple ridged nose and a grimacing tooth-filled lentoid mouth, suggesting that perhaps a gorgoneion was intended. An eye-shaped attachment is riveted to each hand below the thumb and index finger to secure the chin-strap holder on the interior. Still well preserved on the interior is the original goatskin and basketry liner and a portion of the cowhide chin strap. A closely-related helmet, featuring a similar stylized face within a rectangular frame, from the Museo Civico Archeologico of Matelica, is currently on view at the National Archeological Museum in Ancona.
The Picenians were an Italic people who lived along the Adriatic coast in the area today encompassed by the Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo. For other Picenian helmets and related examples from elsewhere in Italy, see M. Egg, “Italische Helm mit Krempe,” in A. Bottini, et al., eds., Antike Helme, pp. 222-239, nos. 60-61, and no. 5.25 in R.D. De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The basic form – with a hemispherical dome and wide, flaring brim – is characteristic of the Picenian helmet type, but the composite construction is more unusual. The openwork decoration finds parallels in examples from Novilara (see M. Egg, Italische Helme, Studien zu den ältereisenzeitlichen Helmen Italiens und der Alpen). The present helmet is formed of four separate hammered sheets, with the lower dome and brim formed from one piece. The upper dome features a stylized figure flanked by its raised hands and splayed fingers. The ensemble is joined by fifty-four rivets, each with small spherical heads. The figure has a U-shaped head with projecting circular ears; the face is outlined by raised ridges, and the long tapering neck is bisected by a central ridge. The round eyes are convex, with a simple ridged nose and a grimacing tooth-filled lentoid mouth, suggesting that perhaps a gorgoneion was intended. An eye-shaped attachment is riveted to each hand below the thumb and index finger to secure the chin-strap holder on the interior. Still well preserved on the interior is the original goatskin and basketry liner and a portion of the cowhide chin strap. A closely-related helmet, featuring a similar stylized face within a rectangular frame, from the Museo Civico Archeologico of Matelica, is currently on view at the National Archeological Museum in Ancona.
The Picenians were an Italic people who lived along the Adriatic coast in the area today encompassed by the Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo. For other Picenian helmets and related examples from elsewhere in Italy, see M. Egg, “Italische Helm mit Krempe,” in A. Bottini, et al., eds., Antike Helme, pp. 222-239, nos. 60-61, and no. 5.25 in R.D. De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.