MAGNA GRECIA, ARCHAIC TO CLASSICAL PERIOD, 600-400 B.C.

Details

A GREEK BRONZE UPPER ARM-GUARD
MAGNA GRECIA, ARCHAIC TO CLASSICAL PERIOD, 600-400 B.C.
11 1⁄8 in. (28.2 cm.) long

Provenance

Axel Guttmann (1944-2001), Berlin, acquired in Krefeld, 1988 (Inv. no. AG182/R302).
Antiken der Sammlung Axel Guttmann, Auktion 54, Hermann Historica, Munich, 11 April 2008, lot 339.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XX, 2009, no. 75).
Christian Levett, London, acquired from the above on behalf of the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2010.

Literature

M. Burns, "Graeco-Italic Militaria," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 187, fig. 14.
V. Torres-Hugon, "Hoplite, le premier guerrier de l'histoire," Antiquité (special editon), Autumn 2017, p. 23.
V. Torres-Hugon, Hoplite: Le premier guerrier de l'histoire, Saint-Martin-des-Entrées, 2018, p. 23.

Exhibited

Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA541).

Conditions of sale

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Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

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Lot Essay

This is one of very few arm-guards from the ancient Greek world to have survived. Worn high on the right arm, it would have provided protection for the hoplite, who typically held a spear in his right hand. The left arm would have been protected by his large shield. For a related example, see p. 59, no. 5 in P. Connolly, Greece and Rome at War.

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