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Details
LOT 0336
Eastern Viking Period Laten Inlaid Iron Axehead
9TH CENTURY A.D.
7 in. (275 grams, 17.7 cm).
With narrow straight blade, shank to the rear with square hammer-face, inlaid geometric and vegetal ornaments. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Literature
Cf. Hjardar, K. & Vike, V., Vikings at war, Oxford-Philadelphia, 2016, p.163, lett. Y, for typology.
Footnotes
Battle-axes came into use in Scandinavia, especially in the Eastern parts of Sweden, Gotland and Denmark. Among the types, there were narrow-bladed types described to be very light in the sources. They could weigh as little as 200-250 grams, making them suitable for single-handed use. Some of them were decorated according to the Slavic taste.
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