Middle Eastern Dagger with separately cast openwork hilt

MIDDLE EASTERN – BRONZE DAGGER WITH OPENWORK HILT – LATE BRONZE AGE / EARLY IRON AGE

Culture: Middle Eastern
Period: Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age
Date: circa 1200–800 BC
Material: Bronze
Object: Dagger with separately cast openwork hilt
Length: 30.5 cm
Weight: 201 g

Description

An exceptional Middle Eastern bronze dagger with an elaborate separately cast openwork hilt, dating to the transition between the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, circa 1200–800 BC.

The weapon consists of two separately manufactured bronze components: a long double-edged blade and an elaborate openwork hilt.

The straight blade gradually tapers towards the point and continues at its base into a broad, flat tang. The tang narrows towards its extremity and preserves the original perforation for the transverse fixing rivet.

The separately cast bronze hilt is particularly distinctive. It incorporates a large curved open element adjoining the blade, followed by a geometrically constructed openwork grip composed of rectangular compartments and terminating in a broad open trapezoidal pommel.

The original assembly system remains clearly visible. The hilt slides over the flat tang until reaching its original seating position. At this point, the perforation in the tang corresponds with the fixing hole in the hilt, through which a transverse bronze rivet originally secured the two components.

When disassembled, a clearly defined curved boundary of differential surface alteration is visible on the tang, corresponding precisely to the area originally protected beneath the hilt. This provides particularly interesting evidence of the weapon's ancient construction and assembly.

Separately manufactured bronze hilts, mechanical attachment by rivets and elaborate openwork constructions are documented among the weapon-making traditions of ancient Western Asia during the late second and early first millennium BC.

The dagger preserves extensive archaeological patination with green and brown copper corrosion products, reddish oxidation, mineral deposits and areas of pronounced surface alteration.

A particularly interesting and substantial example of ancient Middle Eastern bronze weaponry, distinguished by its unusual openwork hilt and clearly preserved construction system.

Condition

Archaeological condition. Extensive oxidation, mineralisation, encrustation and surface wear. Ancient losses and corrosion along the blade edges. The original transverse fixing rivet is no longer preserved, allowing the separately manufactured hilt to be detached from the blade.

Both principal bronze components are preserved.

Please refer carefully to the photographs for the complete condition.

References

M. M. Khorasani, Arms and Armor : The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006.

P. R. S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

For related ancient Western Asiatic bronze daggers with openwork hilts and mechanically assembled components, see comparable examples in major museum and auction collections.

References

Comparable bronze daggers with geometric openwork hilts, crescent-shaped guards and reinforced blades have been offered and sold by Christie's, London, in important auctions of Ancient Near Eastern and Western Asiatic antiquities.

See also comparable examples published in major international collections and auction catalogues, dating from the late 2nd to early 1st millennium BC.