LOT 0204

Byzantine Gold Inlaid Ceremonial Axe Head

CIRCA 9TH-12TH CENTURY A.D.

4 1/4 in. (28.88 grams, 10.9 cm).

A miniature tzikourion comprising a crescentic blade with long neck, flared socket and leaf-shaped blade to the rear; gilt surface with reserved florid and tendril detailing, stylised cross to the flared socket.

Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no. no.12340-225024.

See similar forms (iconography) in Nicolle, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350 AD, volume II, Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia, London, 1999, figs.33p &118c, pp.355 and 373; for battle specimens from the territories of Eastern Roman Empire cf. Yotov, V., Въоръжението и снаряжението от българското средновековие (VII-XI век), (Arms in Bulgaria in medieval period, 7th – 12th century), Варна 2004, no.637; Gorelik, M., ‘Arms and Armour in South-Eastern Europe in the Second Half of First Millennium AD’ in Nicolle, D. (ed.), A Companion to Medieval Arms and Armour, Oxford, 2002, pp.127-148, pl.XL-8, nos.33 ,34 (Khazar Khanate equipment).

It is possible that this axe was used as a status symbol for officers or their family. The axe was known to be a symbol of the Varangian Guard who protected the emperor.