Beschreibung:

ISLAMIC GILDED 'GOLDEN HORDE' HELMET Late 10th-early 11th century AD A bell-shaped helmet of Kirpichnikov’s Type II comprising four triangular iron plates with gilded copper-leaf to the outer surfaces, the front and rear plates covering the rivetted joints with the side plates; each side plate with an attached silver repoussé quatrefoil plaque with scrolled tendril ornament; open at the apex to accept a separately formed cone or spiked dome. 1.4 kg, 29cm high (11 1/2"). Very fine condition. Excessively rare. Provenance Property of an English gentleman; acquired by his grandfather in the 1950s; thence by descent, 1976. Literature Cf. Kirpichnikov Drevnerusskoe Oruzhie III: Dospech, Kompleks Boevych Sredstv IX-XIII vv., in Arkheologiia SSSR, vol. E1-36, ‘Nauka’, Leningrad, 1971; E. Lenz In Russland gefundene frühmittterliche Helme. in ZWK NF Bd I (10) Beiheft, Berlin, 1-17. E. Lenz Hjalmar fran tidig medeltid, funna Rusland in Avhandlingar, Stockholm, 1919; W. Arendt Der Nomadenhelm des frühen Mittelalters in Osteuropa, in ZWK, NF, vol. 5, Berlin 1935. Footnotes The helmet would have been worn in conjunction with a soft woollen liner, or perhaps a separate padded wool and leather arming cap. The typology of early Russian and Slavonic helmets was established in the 1970s, based on the work of Lenz in the early 20th century. The forms of helmet divide into pre-Mongol and post-Mongol types, referring to the 12th century period of political and military upheavals. The pre-Mongol forms are characterised as 'sphaeroconical', meaning that the rounded bowl tapers to a conical upper section, often topped with a spike. Such helmets were long-lived in eastern Europe, whereas in western Europe the simpler conical form prevailed (such as the helmets depicted on the Bayeux tapestry). Likewise, the four-plate construction method, which