MIDDLE BRONZE AGE, CIRCA 2000-1500 B.C.

Details

A LEVANTINE BRONZE AND WOOD AXE
MIDDLE BRONZE AGE, CIRCA 2000-1500 B.C.
21 in. (53.3 cm.) long.
Blade: 5 in. (12.7 cm.) long

Provenance

Fine Antiquities, Christie's, London, 13 and 14 December 1983, lot 94.
Dr Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-2015), Venice, acquired from the above.

Literature

G. Ligabue, L'Armata Scomparsa di Re Cambise, Venice, 1990, p. 79.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

This type of fenestrated axe is prevalently found in graves in western parts of the Near East, although sporadic examples have also been found in Egypt and the Aegean world. See J. Maran, 'Near Eastern Semicircular Axes in the Late Bronze Age Aegean as Entangled Objects', in Ein Minoer Im Exil: Festschrift Für Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Bonn, 2015 for the analysis of a similar example found at the Mycenaean tholos tomb of Vapheio. For another example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art cf. O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron, p. 386, no. 510.

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