Lot 8
8
A GREEK BRONZE APULO-CORINTHIAN HELMET AND PAIR OF ANKLE-GUARDS
A GREEK BRONZE APULO-CORINTHIAN HELMET AND PAIR OF ANKLE-GUARDS
A GREEK BRONZE APULO-CORINTHIAN HELMET AND PAIR OF ANKLE-GUARDS
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A GREEK BRONZE APULO-CORINTHIAN HELMET AND PAIR OF ANKLE-GUARDS
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A GREEK BRONZE APULO-CORINTHIAN HELMET AND PAIR OF ANKLE-GUARDS

MAGNA GRAECIA, LATE ARCHAIC TO CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 500-400 B.C.

Details
A GREEK BRONZE APULO-CORINTHIAN HELMET AND PAIR OF ANKLE-GUARDS
MAGNA GRAECIA, LATE ARCHAIC TO CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 500-400 B.C.
Together with eighteen Italic iron implements, circa 5th-4th century B.C.
Helmet: 9 in. (22.8 cm.) high; ankle-guards: 11 in. (27.9 cm.) high; spit (largest): 39 5⁄8 in. (100.6 cm.) long
Provenance
Kroeber Collection, Berlin, 1964-1994 (probably Sybille Rosenbaum-Kroeber (1915-1997), wife of Wladimir Rosenbaum (1894-1984), Ascona).
with Galleria Serodine, Ascona.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above, 2001 (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XV, 2004, no. 57; Ancient Arms, Armor, and Images of Warfare, 2004, no. 18).
Christian Levett, London, acquired from the above on behalf of the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2008.
Literature
M. Burns, "Graeco-Italic Militaria," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 225, figs. 120-121 (helmet and three spear points).
“Apulo-Corinthian Helmets” (online article, sas.upenn.edu).
Exhibited
Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011-2023 (Inv. nos. MMoCA87a-i).
Musée National du Sport, Nice, Le Corps Sportif, 14th April 2018-16th September 2018 (greaves).

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Lot Essay

This lot includes a unique helmet of the Apulo-Corinthian variation. The usual openings along the visor are here overlaid with an embossed sheet, riveted in place. The sheet has a dotted border; the crossbar is filled with a brow-shaped motif, bisected by dots, which merge into a vertical ridge along the length of the T stem, with larger bosses within the crossbar. The brow motif is echoed above by embossed M-shaped brows, one above the other. The flaring neck-guard has a band of punched circles along the outer edge. Two crest holders are riveted to the sides of the crown, and there are further perforations for additional crest attachments.

The leaf-shaped ankle-guards are each formed from hammered sheet with carinated ridges along their lengths to provide protection to the Achilles tendon. Embossed concentric drop-shapes on each created space for the ankle bones. For a nearly identical pair, see nos. 5 and 6 in D. von Bothmer, “Armorial Adjuncts,” Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 24, pp. 65-70.

This lot is accompanied by eighteen Italic iron implements, including six obeloi (spits), four lance points, four spear points, a knife, pliers, a scrapper and a four-pronged device. For examples from Campovalano, see nos. 16-19, p. 103 in P. Connolly, Greece and Rome at War.

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