Elamite Ceremonial Axe with Silver Sleeve
3rd-2nd millennium B.C. With later sheet-silver sleeve to the shaft, attached with ball-headed rivets; gilt dome finial to each end, the lower one in a gusseted collar. Cf. similar axehead in the British Museum, item no. 128617; cf. for the type Maxwell-Hyslop, R., ‘Western Asiatic Shaft-Hole Axes’ in Iraq, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Spring, 1949), pp.90-129, pl.XXXIV, fig.4b. 750 grams, 45.5 cm (18 in.).

Acquired in 1996. Ex Samad Khameneh collection. Private Swiss collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11647-199005.

The axe belongs typologically to Type 4 of Maxwell-Hyslop’s classification, with a long and thin shaft narrowing towards the base. When technical developments resulted in heavier axe-blades, it was necessary to prolong the socket into a shaft tube and to cut away the underside of the blade where it joined the shaft. The edge of the blade was curved and this shifted the point of impact of the cutting edge. For this specific lot, 5% import VAT is applicable on the hammer price