Elamite Bronze Macehead with Winged Human and Animal Figure

2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.

3 7/8 in. (285 grams, 98 mm).

Of cylindrical form with a raised collar at each end, one side depicting a nude male with a projecting grotesque head, the other side with a projecting ram's head with a long, curving serpent below, two crescentic wings projecting from the upper part of the socket.

Provenance

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.13258-253387.

Literature

See similar typologies of mace-heads or sceptres, Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron, ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, nos.294-295, for the type.

Footnotes

Maces in the Middle East had always had a double function since the early periods: a) as a weapon and b) as a status symbol or symbol of rank and office. The bull-headed mace, called gorz-e gavsar in Persian, was already in use in the ancient Elam and Luristan, and was also common in religious ceremonies.

CONDITION

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LOT 0314