LOT 0315

Elamite Bronze Macehead Inscribed 'To Nin’azu, Bala, son of Lugal-kare-si'

EARLY DYNASTIC IIIB PERIOD, CIRCA 2500-2340 B.C.

4 1/2 in. (350 grams, 11.6 cm).

Comprising a cylindrical shaft with a narrow flanged base, the upper section with three vertical relief panels decorated by round spikes alternated with a wavy pattern, divided and bordered by parallel ridges, engraved with five lines of Sumerian cuneiform text around the socket, a votive inscription translating to: 'To Nin’azu, Bala, son of Lugal-kare-si, the merchant, has presented (it)'.

Acquired before 1983.
Ex London gallery, 1990s.
Private collection, London, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13257-253385.

Cf. for similar items Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, pl.XXX, no.82, from Mesopotamia; Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, item 18, p.24.

This gorz mace head belongs to the category of truncheon-shaped mace heads, a type developed on the Iranian plateau during the Bronze Age, used by Elamite and Luristan warriors since the 3rd millennium B.C. This category of objects was also interpreted as a part of a shaft or cudgel, but most scholars agree on the interpretation of use as a mace.