A Large Collection of Near Eastern Antiquities including bronze finials, weapons, cymbals, bells and pendants, two terracotta votive figures, and a Lamp, mostly Northwest Persia, Circa 15th / 1st century B.C. and later

Estimate

7,000 - 10,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

A Large Collection of Near Eastern Antiquities including bronze finials, weapons, cymbals, bells and pendants, two terracotta votive figures, and a Lamp, mostly Northwest Persia
Finials 6 1/4 and 4 1/4 , quadrupeds and bells 3/4 to 2, pendants 3 3/4 to 1 5/8 , mirrors 7 1/4 and 5 7/8 , weapons 16 1/4 to 12 1/4 , ladles and spoons 7 to 8 3/4 , votives 4 1/2 and 5, lamp 4 7/8 in. (64 pieces)

comprising a Luristan bronze finial with confronted ibexes, a Luristan bronze finial with confronted felines, four bronze quadrupeds (including two xebus possibly of modern origin), thirteen bronze bells, some with zoomorphic decoration, five bronze openwork pendants (three with jangles inside), eight smaller but related bronze objects (one taking the form of a stylized pomegranate), two bronze "mirrors" of Amlash type, ten bronze cymbals with centrally pierced umbos, two bronze dirks, a bronze "pike head" with studded decoration, nine bronze spear points, a bronze finial with repousse decoration, a bronze ring surmounted by two confronted birds of unusual type, two bronze ladles (one with Islamic script on the bowl), a bronze spoon, two terracotta fertility goddesses, and a terracotta oil lamp surmounted by a quadruped with high pronged horns.

Provenance

acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Manheim prior to 1971
formerly on loan to the Brooklyn Museum, inv. nos. L 70.25.1-.3, .5-.7, .9-.66

Catalogue Note

Cf. P.R.S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1971, pls. 5-6 for the weaponry, 28-29 for the pendants, and 67-69, 72-73 for the mirrors.

See illustration of eighteen.

Paul E. Manheim (1906-1999) was an American financier, art collector and philanthropist. Based in New York City, Mr. Manheim was a partner at Lehman Brothers and was responsible for providing individual investment services to wealthy Americans in the years following the Second World War. He began collecting Asian art – primarily Chinese, Indian and Nepalese – in the 1960s and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Museum from 1969 to 1982. Of the lots offered here, all had been on long-term loan to the Brooklyn Museum. Mr. Manheim was considered an astute collector of a wide range of objects . He was recognized not only as a great collector but as an important museum supporter, contributor, and leader in a time when American interest in Asian art was on the rise.