CIRCA MID 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A CELTIC SILVER SCABBARD
CIRCA MID 1ST CENTURY B.C.
Made of sheet metal with applied sections of opus-interrasile (cut-away) decoration attached with small bronze rivets forming part of the complex decoration, comprising from top to tip, a large section with vertical and horizontal bands of wheels, section of running arches, section of conjoined circles, and further down the scabbard three smaller sections with similar triple conjoined circles with tear-drop shaped pendants, the tip decorated with bronze crescent, with bronze back and sword partially remaining
30¾ in. (78 cm.) long

Provenance

Private collection, Germany, prior to the 1960s.
H. Mol collection, Switzerland; acquired Germany 1960s.
With Gallerie Numaga, Switzerland; acquired 1978.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

Cf. V. Kruta et al. (eds.), The Celts, Venice, 1991, p. 567 for a detail of a scabbard top of similar shape. 'The scabbard gave the craftsman a means of expressing great technical virtuosity ... The top of the sheath is always decorated, sometimes with cut sheet metal, sometimes with designs engraved with a burin, or by embossing or knurling.'

For a similar scabbard with this type of opus-interrasile work in the Trier Museum, cf. Trier: Augustusstadt der Treverer,Mainz, 1984, pp. 93, pl. 4 and p. 289, no. 147.1, dated to 20 B.C.

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