CIRCA 650-620 B.C.

Details

A GREEK BRONZE HELMET OF CRETAN TYPE
CIRCA 650-620 B.C.
Formed from two hammered sheets riveted together, the join running vertically across the crown, each half of the crest forged in one with half of the helmet, in the form of an open-faced bowl with a slightly-flaring guard, the shaft of the high crest, rectangular in section, rising up from the crown and terminating in a forward-curving inverted hook, the guard offset from the bowl by a raised molding, with three incised bands below, guilloche, complex guilloche and tongues, divided by raised tripartite ribbed bands, similar tripartite bands encircling at the forehead level, two small loops, perhaps hinges, centered within the bands at the front, perforations along the face cut-out likely once fitted with a separately-made and now-missing frontlet, both sides of the crest with raised tripartite and plain ridges dividing incised guilloche, wave and complex guilloche, the narrow ends of the crest open, with evenly spaced perforations, likely for insertion of plumes, the crest ridges extending at the crown, creating two zones on either side filled with carefully-incised mythological scenes, each on a groundline of arches alternating with palmettes, one zone on the proper left side with Apollo Kitharoidos facing right, two birds in flight behind him, a gesturing youth in a splaying garment before him, his head turned back toward the god, a lion at the far right, his head turned back, the other zone with a departing warrior striding to the right, armed in greaves, a corselet, a circular shield and a high-crested Cretan helmet, a veiled woman and a child behind him, one zone on the proper right side with Perseus presenting the decapitated head of Medusa to Athena, Perseus' head surmounted by a small animal head, the gorgon's head with two smaller facing heads below, perhaps ornament on a cauldron, the goddess wearing a peplos with incised rosettes, an aegis and a high-crested Cretan helmet, the other zone with a centaur, perhaps Chiron, his head turned back, holding an attribute, perhaps an arrow, in his right hand, a standing figure before him in a long garment; each zone with an inverted goat and a rosette above
17 in. (43.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Joseph Weller (1872-1926), Essen, Germany.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 7 December 2005, lot 54.

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Lot Essay

According to Hoffmann (Early Cretan Armorers, p. 1), Cretan helmets are remarkably light and extremely resilient, due to their metallurgy and to the technique of manufacture. Two types are known, the orientalizing "open face" type and a variation of the Corinthian. Both types are made in two halves and riveted together. Only two examples of the "open face" type are known, the present example and another in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (see no. H5, pl. 13 in Hoffmann, op. cit.); and only four examples of the Corinthian variation. Prior to the publication of the Hamburg helmet, the type was only known in votive miniatures and in representations on works of art in various media. (For the votives see no. 30, pls. 29, 30a, b in Benton, "Bronzes from Palaikastro and Praisos," in Annual of the British School at Athens; for depictions of this type of helmet see the warriors on the corselet in Hamburg, no. C1 in Hoffmann, op. cit., and the warrior and figure of Athena on the present helmet). The engraved mythological scenes are some of the finest and earliest such depictions in Greek art. For the style compare the figures, especially the Apollo Kitharoidos, on the "Crowe" corselet from Olympia, now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, no. C8 in Hoffmann, op. cit.

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