An extraordinary auction is taking place Jan. 30 at Christie’s New York: “Arms and Armour from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Part I.” This 36-lot sale, on view from Jan. 26-29, comes from the largest private collection of ancient Greek and Roman arms and armor. The acclaimed Mougins Museum of Classical Art (MACM) featured these pieces alongside antiquities that were juxtaposed with Contemporary art inspired by the classical world—all owned by the British former commodities trader and art collector Christian Levett.
In 2011, Levett opened MACM in Southern France, housing the collection in a former mill he restored. Passionate about military history since childhood, Levett assembled an incredible collection of backplates, breastplates, helmets, and swords from the ancient Mediterranean world and displayed them on the entire top floor of MACM. Many of these objects trace their provenance to the German industrialist Axel Guttmann, considered the greatest 20th-century collector in this category. Levett closed MACM in 2023, after his collecting interests shifted gears. This is the catalyst for the upcoming Christie’s sale, one of six in total that will sell MACM’s collection.
A Greek Bronze Corinthian Helmet
Originally, Corinthian helmets covered a warrior’s face in order to provide the greatest possible protection. However, this safeguard constrained the wearer’s sight, hearing, and breathing. Over time, the Corinthian helmet’s structure evolved to include larger eye holes and a smaller, rounder nose-guard. The classic Corinthian helmet has a larger domed head, elongated almond-shaped eyes, and elegantly curved cheek-guards. Christie’s Head of Department for Ancient Art and Antiquities, Hannah Fox Solomon, says, “Aesthetically, it’s a beautiful form that has a lyrical nature.”
A Greek bronze Corinthian helmet from the late Archaic to early Classical period, circa 525–475 B.C., has an estimated worth of $300,000–500,000. It is an exceptional example of a Hermione type; the category is named for an ancient Greek town on the Peloponnesian Argolid peninsula. It is considered the ideal version of a Corinthian helmet, and in the visual arts it was often depicted on ancient sculptures, coins, and vases.
A Roman Sheet Brass Helmet
Another lot in the Christies’ sale, a Roman sheet brass helmet of Weisenau type, Flavian to Trajanic Period, can also be found represented in fine art. Examples are visible on the famous triumphal Trajan’s Column in Rome. The Weisenau type was popular during the first two A.D. centuries, and its designation stems from the location of a particular example. The Christie’s helmet from circa A.D. 69–117 was formerly part of the Guttmann Collection and has an estimated worth of $250,000–350,000. Its golden shimmer reveals it was made from orichalcum, a type of Roman brass highly prized in antiquity due to its resemblance to gold.
Cavalry Helmet
One of the most impressively majestic pieces in the sale is a Roman iron and tinned bronze cavalry helmet. From the Antonine Period, circa A.D. 125–175, with an estimated worth of $300,000–500,000, it is possibly one of the most complete examples of its classification. It is considered transitional between the Weiler/Koblenz-Bubenheim type and the Guisborough/Theilenhofen type. Its rich decorations might lead one to think it would have been worn solely for show in a military parade. However, scholars believe that this helmet, also formerly in the Guttmann Collection, may have been used in combat.
The helmet’s core material is iron. This metal base is laminated with embossed tinned bronze. A prominent feature are its cheek-guards. The central part’s decoration resembles an equestrian shield, while the corners are embellished with scallop shells. The upper part is the most eye-catching with naturalistically-formed human ears; the reason for this striking idiosyncrasy is unknown. Bands of laurel encircle and run across the helmet’s crown.
The Guttmann Mouse Helmet
The highlight of the sale, one of the greatest surviving examples of a helmet from the classical period, is the Guttmann mouse helmet. Its moniker derives from its previous owner, Axel Guttmann, and the unusual embellishment of two mice at the back of the helmet. Like the previous helmet, it dates to the Antonine period, circa A.D. 125–175, but has an estimated worth of $1,000,000–1,500,000. Consisting of iron, brass, and copper, it is of Weisenau/Niedermörmter type. This grouping derives from an earlier Celtic/Etruscan kind of helmet that can be traced to the fourth century B.C. Another contributor to the rarity and importance of this helmet is that an iron “dolabra” was found with it and is included in the sale of the lot. The object is a pickaxe that was commonly carried by Roman infantry.
This helmet was on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2018–2022. Its dome is made of iron, a stronger, more durable material that ultimately supplanted the use of bronze for helmets because it provided better protection. The back of the neck-guard has a “tabula ansata,” an ornamental rectangular tablet with an inscription, that has a handle with finials shaped as acorns. The plaque contains the name of the helmet’s owner: Julius Mansuetus, who was probably an officer.
Christie’s describes the helmet’s most captivating feature: “Within the two triangular zones at the back of the dome is a small mouse and a segmented circular motif, perhaps a loaf of bread, all with stippled and incised details.” While one interpretation of the circular objects next to the mice could be to identify them as nuts, scholars believe they are more akin to a Roman type of bread known as “panis quadratus,” visible in images excavated at places such as Pompeii. Depictions of mice feature frequently in Roman art. However, the exact symbolism of these helmet motifs remains mysterious. Potentially, they signify a devotional meaning, but they might also denote negative qualities.
In the ancient world, helmets were often a means to convey status. They feature in the visual art and literature of the period. Journalist Supriya Nair points out the key role armor, particularly helmets, plays in the story of “Iliad” and how, for the past several decades, the most common image used on its book cover is that of an empty bronze helmet. The helmets in “Arms and Armour from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Part I” are elevated to sculpture by their artistry. As Levett notes, “The collection gives the words “the art of warfare” a whole new meaning.”
