A GREEK GOLD, SILVER AND IRON DAGGER

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.

細節

A GREEK GOLD, SILVER AND IRON DAGGER
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.
The handle of the tapering iron blade overlaid in gold sheet, flaring at the outwardly-curving tip, ornamented with filigree plain wire and strips forming cloissons filled with enamel, primarily blue and white, the center of one side with a lotus blossom, palmettes and ivy leaves interspersed with small squares, diamonds and circles, framed by a thin band of alternating squares and diamonds, and a broad band of wave pattern, the top edge with a band of squares and diamonds, the other side with a lunette topped with wave pattern above a lotus blossom and ivy leaves, a band of granulation between twisted wires below; some elements from the scabbard preserved, including a long gold band bisected by squares and diamonds, framed by twisted wire, and bordered by angled foliate forms; a long gold band bisected by granulation framed by rope wire, bordered by foliated forms; the scabbard tip with a gold sheet ornamented with lotus, ivy, diamonds and squares, framed by wave and foliate forms; together with eight sheet gold conical ornaments; with a silver guard, two straps and a rounded tip
14 5/16 in. (36.3 cm.) long

來源

with George Moro, Paris and Germany, early 1980s.

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拍品專文

The style of the filigree and the polychromatic effect of the enamel find its closest parallels on jewelry primarily on the eastern fringes of the Greek world. Compare for example the ivy leaves on a pair of multilayered rosettes from the Great Bliznitsa kurgan, circa 4th century B.C., no. 165 in Trofimova, Greeks on the Black Sea. The foliate designs of the scabbard as well as the diamond shapes there and on the handle are paralleled on a pair of gold bracelets from Olbia, now in Baltimore, no. 283 in Garside, ed., Jewelry, Ancient to Modern. The wave pattern and foliate forms are also found on a pendant, found in Crete, now in the London, no. 2064 in Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum.