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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.256.137.A
Title
Shaft-Hole Axe Head
Classification
Weapons and Ammunition
Work Type
axe
Date
10th-8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Luristan (Iran)
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304534

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5.9 x 11.3 x 2.5 cm (2 5/16 x 4 7/16 x 1 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Arsenical Copper:

Point 1 (Blade): Cu, 97.24; Sn, less than 0.25; Pb, 0.1; Zn, 0.005; Fe, 0.68; Ni, 0.24; Ag, 0.08; Sb, less than 0.05; As, 1.64; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.014; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001


ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:

Point 2 (Head): Cu, 84.25; Sn, 15.3; Pb, 0.19; Zn, less than 0.001; Fe, 0.04; Ni, 0.02; Ag, 0.01; Sb, 0.06; As, 0.14; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Arsenical Copper:


Point 3 (Shaft): Cu, 97.13; Sn, less than 0.25; Pb, 0.12; Zn, 0.005; Fe, 0.69; Ni, 0.24; Ag, 0.08; Sb, 0.06; As, 1.66; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.016; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001


J. Riederer

Comments: The molded head probably does not belong to this axe.

Technical Observations: The blade and shaft of 1992.256.137.A have a similar green and black surface, but the head is much more heavily corroded with grayish-green corrosion products. The pastiche of 1992.256.137.A included three parts (blade, shaft, and head), which were roughly cut, filed, and crudely soldered together with lead solder. The axe blade was cast and then hammered, with surface design punched or engraved in the blade. The shaft was probably rough cast and then hammered into shape; the thickness of the metal decreases as the diameter of the shaft increases. The poorly preserved head was probably made by the lost-wax process.

1992.256.137.B was previously joined to this object as well.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Louise M. and George E. Bates, Camden, ME (by 1971-1992), gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1992.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Louise M. and George E. Bates
Accession Year
1992
Object Number
1992.256.137.A
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This axe-head, currently made up of a blade, shaft hole, and a molded head decoration, was discovered to be a pastiche during examination in conservation. A molded collar, 1992.256.137.B, has also been added to the top of the shaft; it is unclear whether this element is modern or if it may have belonged to another ancient object. The molded collar was removed, along with some of the filling covering the joins on the axe-head.

While the form and iconographic style of this axe-head are related to the Luristan bronze tradition, no figural parallels are known among axe-heads. Shaft-hole axe-heads are primarily associated with third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian and Iranian contexts, but these examples lack figural embellishment (1). The janiform heads adorning this object are of the same style seen on early first-millennium BCE Luristan tubes and finials, but they are not attested on axes (2). The heads on the Harvard axe-head are very worn and broken off at the top, and it is possible that they are also modern additions; ICP-MS/AAA analysis of the three currently joined components indicates that the decorative heads have a different alloy (bronze) than the blade or the shaft (both arsenical copper). A small linear design is etched on one side of the blade.

NOTES:

1. See P. R. S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1971) 39-41, nos. 4-5, fig. 3; F. Tallon, Métallurgie susienne 1: De la fondation de Suse au XVIIIe siècle avant J.-C. (Paris, 1987) 73-75, nos. 21-35, pls. 139-42; and C. L. Woolley, Ur Excavations II: The Royal Cemetery (Philadelphia, 1934) 305-306, pl. 223.

2. See Moorey 1971 (supra 1) 164-65, nos. 188-89, pls. 37-38; and O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1988) 137 and 151-52, nos. 240-42.


Amy Gansell

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu