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LOT 1059
Large Luristan Socketted Adze-Axehead
13TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
10 1/4 in. (1.43 kg, 26 cm).
With central socket and shaft; cutting blade set vertically at a right-angle; the short pick-adze blade arranged horizontally.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 2, London, 2004, items 21, 34.
FootnotesThe earliest axes-adzes from the 3rd millennium B.C. were weapons and tools furnished with socket holes. Usually the socket is a more secure way of attaching the object to a wooden haft than having a tang. These weapons developed into a plethora of different forms in the 2nd millennium B.C., and the numerous new forms and were used until at least 800 B.C.
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AUCTIONS:
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Medieval Iron Socketted Javelin
Circa 15th-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
With square-section spike and tapering socket. 249 grams, 32 cm
Ex California, USA, collection formed since the late 1960s. European art market before the late 1990s. -
Elamite Bronze Crescentic Axehead
Mid 3rd millennium B.C.Estimate: £180 - 240 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £90
With slender tubular socket, horizontal upper cheek and curved lower one, scooped profile to blade with convex cutting edge. 333 grams, 12.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. -
Luristan Sar-e Gorz Luristan Bronze Macehead
14th-13th century B.C.Estimate: £200 - 300 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £111
With plain globular body, extended to a small raised ring encircling the top of the mace-head, circular short shaft expanding to a circular flat base. 279 grams, 70 mm high
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
Caucasian stone and bronze maces were distinguished by modestly finished, clean processed and predominantly close-to-ball shapes (with a variety of surface finishing, ranging from the smooth, ribbed, lobular forms to the rounded with protrusions and spikes), and the Western Iranian maces, especially the Luristan ones, notable for the variety of different forms. Similar mace-heads, probably realised in Luristan, decorated the head of the sceptres of Assyrian kings like Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243-1207 B.C.).