Elamite Bronze Macehead

EARLY 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.

9 in. (449 grams, 23 cm).

Of tapering cylindrical form with flange to socket, the upper body displaying vertical columns of chevrons between plain bands.

Provenance

Acquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.

Literature

Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 56.102.1, for very similar; see Godard, A., Les Bronzes du Luristan, Paris, 1931, pl.XIX, no.58, for a similar mace; see also Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, p.24, nos.18-19; Khorasani, M. M., 'Bronze and iron weapons from Luristan' in Antiguo Oriente: Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente, 7, 2009, fig.8.

Footnotes

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.

CONDITION

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LOT 1034