Lot 1
1
A GREEK BRONZE ILLYRIAN HELMET
A GREEK BRONZE ILLYRIAN HELMET
A GREEK BRONZE ILLYRIAN HELMET
A GREEK BRONZE ILLYRIAN HELMET
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A GREEK BRONZE ILLYRIAN HELMET

ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 600-550 B.C.

Details
A GREEK BRONZE ILLYRIAN HELMET
ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 600-550 B.C.
8 ½ in. (21.5 cm.) high
Provenance
Axel Guttmann (1944-2001), Berlin (Inv. no. H299).
Antiken der Sammlung Axel Guttmann, Auktion 54, Hermann Historica, Munich, 11 April 2008, lot 313.
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. 201, fig. 60.
R. Hixenbaugh, Ancient Greek Helmets: A Complete Guide and Catalog, New York, 2019, p. 298, no. I140.
Exhibited
Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA498).

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Lot Essay

With its sloping neck-guard, raised crest ridges running parallel along the dome, two decorative bands above the brow and rivets along the perimeter, this helmet is characteristic of the early Illyrian type. According to Hixenbaugh (op. cit., p. 132), this variant was first produced exclusively in the Peloponnese, but by the mid 6th century, mainland workshops, including those in Corinth, Argos and Sparta were also sites of production. The geographic distribution of the type was wide, with examples discovered as far afield as Spain and Egypt.

For a similar example in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, see p. 60, no. 5 in P. Connolly, Greece and Rome at War.

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