Luristan Bronze Dirk. 12th century B.C. With lentoid-section blade, integral tapering hilt with flared finial, lateral flanges to accept a panel of bone or wood to each face forming the grip. Cf. the type in Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.377, cat.6, for the type. 283 grams, 40 cm (15 3/4 in.).

Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The dirk belongs to the type IIIa of the Medvedskaya classification. In these specimens handle and blade are cast in one piece. In Luristan, daggers produced up until the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C. were simple bronze or copper blades with the tangs attached by rivets to a handle made of organic material.

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