Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Help requested on Islamic? inscriptions on a heavy axe

Lee · 11th June 2009, 08:54 PM

My thanks, Dom, for your help with understanding the inscriptions. Does the style of the calligraphy give any suggestion of origin?

Below are the promised pictures of both faces of the axe. I apologize for leaving a scale out of the photographs, from the hammer head to the center edge measures 23.5 cm and from horn to horn in a straight line is 24 cm. The overall mass is 2.6 kg, including a plain wooden haft. The blade of the axe is surprisingly dull and about 1.5 mm thick. Also, I get the impression that the decoration was applied after and around the gash on the socket in the top picture and was similarly applied over a scraped depressed area on the blade face in the bottom picture.

Over the socket there is a representation of a live bird which appears to be standing over a dead bird. Do you know what this references?

I have e-mailed the department in the museum where I saw a very similar axe requesting any further information they can provide about the provenance of their example and I am awaiting their reply...

In the meantime, does anyone want to stick their neck out (no, not over the block) and propose an attribution before I share my museum observations?

11th June 2009, 08:54 PM	#4
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 887	Phase 2, zooming back My thanks, Dom, for your help with understanding the inscriptions. Does the style of the calligraphy give any suggestion of origin? Below are the promised pictures of both faces of the axe. I apologize for leaving a scale out of the photographs, from the hammer head to the center edge measures 23.5 cm and from horn to horn in a straight line is 24 cm. The overall mass is 2.6 kg, including a plain wooden haft. The blade of the axe is surprisingly dull and about 1.5 mm thick. Also, I get the impression that the decoration was applied after and around the gash on the socket in the top picture and was similarly applied over a scraped depressed area on the blade face in the bottom picture. Over the socket there is a representation of a live bird which appears to be standing over a dead bird. Do you know what this references? I have e-mailed the department in the museum where I saw a very similar axe requesting any further information they can provide about the provenance of their example and I am awaiting their reply... In the meantime, does anyone want to stick their neck out (no, not over the block) and propose an attribution before I share my museum observations? Attached Images