Early 8th century BC. A broad hammered bronze helmet of conical form, produced from a single sheet of metal, the front with a raised linear motive, three encircling ribs above the brim, the arched ribs with round pointed terminals forming abstract linear motifs resembling eyebrows; pierced holes to the edge for rings for cheek-pieces; mounted on a custom-made display stand. See Borchardt, J., Homerische Helme: Helmenformen der Ág?is in ihren Beziehungen zu orientalischen und europäischen Helmen in der Bronze-und frühen Eisenzeit, Mainz, 1972; Born, H., Seidl, U., Schutzwaffen aus Assyrien und Urartu, Sammlung Axel Guttmann IV, Mainz, 1995; Christie’s, The art of the warfare, the Axel Guttmann collection, Part I, Wednesday 6 November 2002, London, 2001, especially nr.11; Christie’s, The art of the warfare, the Axel Guttmann collection, Part II, Wednesday 28 April 2004, London, 2004, n.33; Dezs?, T., Near Eastern Helmets of the Iron Age, (British Archaeological Reports, S992), Oxford, 2001; Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg (2003) in Russian; similar helmets in Borchardt, 1972, pp.103ff., esp. pl.35 cat.24,VI,1; Christie’s, 2004, p.35; other parallels in Gorelik, 2003, pl.LXI n.77, from the surroundings of the Lake Urmia, preserved in Tokyo, Museum of the Ancient East.2.5 kg total, 51cm including stand (20"). From a UK private collection, 1960s; accompanied by an archaeological report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no. 10512-171102. It has been suggested by Born and Seidl that the abstract motif may represent either a lightning bolt, a pair of antlers, a sacred tree or possibly a stylised winged sun. One cannot exclude the possibility that it was a heraldic symbol (tamga) of some Urartian family.