Kunst & Kunsthandwerk, Antiken

| 151 A Late Bronze Age copper oxhide ingot, Eastern Mediterranean, 16th/15th - 11th/10th century B.C. Flat copper ingot in the shape of the hide of an ox with a protruding handle in each of the ingot’s four corners. Rough surface, marked with two circles on the underside. Cracked in the middle, otherwise intact. Green patina. Dimensions 78.5 x 42 x 2-3 cm. During theMediterraneanBronze Age, the production and distribution of metals, particularly copper, reached new dimensions. Known as oxhide ingots, these slabs are outstanding documents of this development. They were mainly – but not exclusively – produced on Cyprus in a relatively standardised format and in large quantities. With a weight of 25.54 kg, this copper ingot lies well within the weight range of between 20 and 32 kg of all known ingots. The centre of their widespread distribution is in the eastern Mediterranean area. The shipwreck of Uluburun (Turkey) stands out in particular, with its load of 354 ingots dating from the second half of the 14th century. Nonetheless, fragments of at least two oxhide ingots, presumably of Cypriot origin, were also found in the hoard at Oberwilflingen in Baden-Württemberg, SouthGermany. AndreasHauptmann, BobMaddin andMichael Prange have since discovered that the ingots from the Ulubu- run shipwreck, also weighing approx. 25 kg, were most likely cast in clay and sandmoulds withmolten copper fromseveral crucibles simultaneous- ly. Furthermore, the Uluburun ingots are characterised by a distinctive po- rosity, which can also be observed on the fracture line of this ingot. One point of controversy is whether the oxhide ingots served as a formof curren- cy on account of their relatively standardized design. C f . A. Hauptmann/B. Maddin/M. Prange, On the Structure and Compo- sition of Copper and Tin Ingots Excavated from the Shipwreck of Ulubu- run. Bulletin of theAmerican School ofOriental Research 328, 2002, 1-30. P rovenance : From a private collection in South Germany. Acquired from the legacy of a Munich physician, who had bought it on the Austri- an art market, see enclosed note. Previously private collection, Vienna. According to oral information, acquired at the end of the 1960s in the Galerie E. Richter, Wiener Neustadt. 253319 II - € 15.000 1772