Lot 7046

Description

Two breastplates from a suit of armour to cover the chest and back. Two plates with a similar structure but different decorations in detail. Both plates are made of a double layer of bronze sheet metal, the upper one with repoussé work, the lower one smooth. The edge is perforated with fine holes for attachment to a base. The trefoil shape is slightly ground down, only slightly curved at the top, broad and tongue-shaped at the bottom with only a slight indentation between the three disc-shaped main motifs. Straight edge at the top. Two eyelets riveted to the outside, which served to connect the plate to band-shaped straps that went over the shoulders, which are no longer preserved. One eyelet on the breastplate is missing. The more elaborately decorated plate is to be regarded as the breastplate. At the top are three horizontal decorative bands: a row of dots, cymation and metope-like fields with palmettes. Below are two curved, round bosses with winged quadrupeds carrying a human head. Between them are two vertical four-legged animal figures (lion to the left, horse to the right?). In the centre of the plate is a small stylised woman's head with long hair flanked by two lions. There is a snake on each side. At the bottom, another stylised woman's head with a horn-like headdress is depicted in a dominant and large manner. Tufts of hair on the sides? The image is flanked on the left and right by a slender figure. Openings have been restored and corrosion stabilised. Height without eyelets 31 cm, with eyelets 32 cm. The back plate at the top features a cymation, followed by palmettes arranged in a metope pattern, flanked by two inward-facing lions. Below this a row of acorns. The two curved, medallion-like bosses are in poor condition and the depiction is no longer recognisable. In the centre, another horizontal cymation and below it a row of acorns. At the very bottom another stylised female head; the decoration on the edge is no longer recognisable. Overall, more extensive restoration work than on the breastplate. Height as for breastplate. Iconographically extremely interesting, ancient Italic protective armour. The decoration is in many ways similar to the Italic armour from Ksour es-Saf (Carthaginian tomb find in Tunisia – the armour was looted or imported during the Second Punic War). In contrast to this armour from the Hellenistic period (but still made in a late classical style), the design, especially the figurative decoration, is much more stylised here and can be understood as a regional interpretation of classical motifs. CULTURAL HERITAGE ITEM!

Provenance: Private collection in the Rhineland, from the stock of a former art dealer, acquired in the 1980s on the art market.

Condition: III Questions about the lot?