Persian and Ottoman maces

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The Ottoman Mace.

I note the Term Polylobate Mace... http://www.icollector.com/AN-OTTOMAN-MACE_i21581002 described and sold as

Quote"The rare, mid-16th century steel head of polylobate form, refitted to a leather-covered wooden haft with silver mounts. Late 17th century. Worn overall. Such maces were popular with Ottoman, Polish, Cossack and Tatar warriors, representing a symbol of rank as well as a weapon. Overall length 45.5 cm.
Condition II" Unquote.

Whilst it remains understandably difficult to separate Ottoman and Persian hafts with heavy weighted lumps on the end...perhaps there is some distinction in the way these hafts were decorated. The Ottoman type also covered in part by leather...Clearly the concept of badge of office was mirrored in both weapons and in the Parade nature in the Persian form in the Qajar Dynasty.

Below~ The Polylobate Ottoman Mace and to the right another ....

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Naturally Maces were not the sole domain of one or two armies .. Eventually they spread far and wide as described below from this excellent resource ~

http://otlichnik.tripod.com/medmace3.html

Quote" Flanged mace heads are common throughout the northern Islamic world, in Persian and Turkic dominated areas from the 12th century on. It is possible that the popularity, if not the actual design, of flanged maces spread into Western Europe through contacts forged during the crusades - in particular contacts with the Seljuk Turks. Flanged maces were known in ancient times in the Iranian lands and the design may have survived in these parts through the “dark ages”." Unquote.

And that makes telling the difference between Flanged Maces very difficult indeed !!

Below the caption described these as Indo Persian Maces... which to the non specialist is equally confusing . Maces are best looked at singly and as they appear viewing any script or typical haft decoration and by a process of elimination and having gone through the different heads.. Flanged, Round, Polylobate, Spiked, Zoomorphic..etc.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Below the caption described these as Indo Persian Maces... which to the non specialist is equally confusing .

Ibrahimm, that image also contains individual descriptions.

Various Indo-Persian maces, from left: Bozdogan/buzdygan (Ottoman), tabar-shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), shishpar (unknown), gurz (Indian), shishpar (Indian).

Describing items as "Indo-Persian" is no different than when you have maces from Europe and you say "European" maces. Indo-Persian is just a way to group items together, it is an internet tag word that is picked up by search engines. It is very helpful when searching online.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Ibrahimm, that image also contains individual descriptions.




Describing items as "Indo-Persian" is no different than when you have maces from Europe and you say "European" maces. Indo-Persian is just a way to group items together, it is an internet tag word that is picked up by search engines. It is very helpful when searching online.

Salaams estcrh, I don't have an axe to grind with Maces in fact its an excellent thread... I also don't want to get wound up in the wording used by the web although it can be seen that Indo/ Persian rather haphazardly groups a huge selection of everything weapon wise in one bag.
Was it not one of the aims of this thread to separate the Maces so that they could be further identified and to expand on the subject it was mentioned at #1 that Indian weapons were also in the conundrum...? Which indeed by definition of Indo/ Persian they certainly are.

Thus, I think an appraisal of each style would have been the way forward.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Thus, I think an appraisal of each style would have been the way forward.

Ibrahiim, I agree with you but there are really not many mace examples that can be positively identified as being Persian. We know that the bulls head and devils head maces are Persian, and some maces have known Persian carvings / decorations but the rest do not seen to have anything that helps distinguish between Ottoman and Persian as far as I can see other than certain styles of flanged and smooth maces which have been identified as being Persian due to similarity in form to older known examples and the lack of similar Ottoman maces made in the same style.

Below is a good study example, there are a few maces that I know of made in this style. They seem to have been forged from one piece of iron / steel, flanged with embedded bead type decorations, this one I have in my collection....I always have thought it might be Ottoman, but now I an thinking that it may possible be Persian as I have not seen any known Ottoman maces with similar decorations. Any thoughts????

[estcrh]

A few other example of the same type.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams estcrh, That mace form appears at #25 on left of photo with other Indo Persian examples...but identified as Bozdogan/buzdygan (Ottoman) which generally means round headed mace.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.