CIRCA 300-200 B.C.

Details

AN ITALIC BRONZE MONTEFORTINO HELMET
CIRCA 300-200 B.C.
8 7⁄8 in. (22.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Axel Guttmann (1944-2001), Berlin, acquired in 1987 (Inv. no. AG130/H6).
The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, Part 2, Christie's, London, 28 April 2004, lot 116.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above (Ancient Arms, Armor, and Images of Warfare, 2004, no. 32).
Private Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, acquired from the above, 2006.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York.
Christian Levett, London, acquired from the above on behalf of the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2008.

Literature

H. Born, "Zur Herstellung der Etruskischen Bronzehelme mit Scheitelknauf," Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt, vol. 21, 1991, pp. 75-77, pls. 9,3 and 12.
M. Junkelmann, Römische Helme: Sammlung Axel Guttmann, Mainz am Rhein, 2000, pp. 107-108, figs. 30-32.
M. Burns, "Graeco-Italic Militaria," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 187, fig. 12.

Exhibited

Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA504).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

hsolomon@christies.com +1 212 636 2256

Lot Essay

As Junkelmann (op. cit., p. 52) relates, the Montefortino helmet is regarded as one of the “most successful” types of the ancient Mediterranean. Thought to have been inspired by Celtic prototypes, the Montefortino emerged in the 4th century B.C. continued in use well in to the Roman period (see, for example, lot 40). The type is defined by a conical bowl surmounted by a knob and a narrow, moderately-sloping neck-guard. Examples and regional variations have been found from the Iberian Peninsula to the Black Sea area. The type takes its name from the Italian region of Montefortino, near Ancona, where 17 examples were discovered in a Celtic burial.

This solid-cast helmet has elegant ornamentation including an incised knob with two bands of upward-directed tongues, a twisted rope border along the perimeter and a hatched triangular motif to the upper edge of the neck-guard. To the underside of the neck-guard is an engraving reading “VII S,” perhaps referring to a military unit. Junkelmann (op. cit, pp. 107-108) notes that this helmet is a transitional variation of the Canosan/Cremona subtype, recognizable by its comparatively low height and onion-shaped dome.

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