LOT 0259

Western Asiatic Bronze Spiked Macehead Group

2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.

4 - 5 7/8 in. (1.35 kg total, 10-15 cm).

Comprising: one with two unaligned rows, each with four horizontal spikes, topped by a tooth helping to secure the mace to a wooden shaft; the second with a long socket and a row of six spikes, three pointed and three rounded, double tipped edge for securing the shaft; the third with six horizontal spikes; all with solid heads and hollow tubular sockets; of North-West Iranian typology. [3]

Acquired from Artemis Gallery, Munich in 1995.
European private collection.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11997-211853.
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.

Cf. Dyson, R.H., ‘Hasanlu and Early Iran’, in Archaeology, vol. 13, no.2, June 1960, pp.118-129, fig.p.128; Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron, Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, nos.68-71, for very similar types; Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, in Russian, see pl.XXXI, nos.82,83, from Luristan and Fargana, for very similar types.

A variety of similar bronze mace heads have been recovered in Hasanlu and Marlik, mainly of spiked variety. Excavations at 8th-7th century B.C. War Kabud and Chamzhi-Mumah in Luristan have produced related types, with smaller spikes or knobs and with an elongated socket, like one of our examples. These spiked maces are a specifically Iranian type. In general, they were used from the 9th century B.C. although some scholars support the thesis of their use in the late 2nd-early 1st millennium based on finds from Marlik.