Lot 80
80
A RARE SOUTH INDIAN AXE HEAD
A RARE SOUTH INDIAN AXE HEAD
A RARE SOUTH INDIAN AXE HEAD
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ARMS AND ARMOUR FROM THE COLLECTION OF HOWARD RICKETTS
A RARE SOUTH INDIAN AXE HEAD

SOUTH INDIA, 16TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE SOUTH INDIAN AXE HEAD
SOUTH INDIA, 16TH CENTURY
The iron or steel blade recurved outwards from a circular socket, the back edge reinforced, the blade culminating in lotus buds, the socket decorated with simple bands and a lotus bud knop
14 7/8in. (38cm.) high
Literature
Howard Ricketts and Philippe Missilier, Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris, 1988, no.114
Howard Ricketts and David Sulzberger, Islamic Military Heritage, Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991, p.49, no. 277
Exhibited
Splendeur des Armes Orientales, Paris, 1988
Islamic Military Heritage, Nine Centuries of Islamic Arms and Armour, Riyadh, 1991

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Lot Essay

The lotus bud knop bears a close resemblance to one on a unique combination axe and hand gun, formerly in the Oldman/Stone Collection and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36.25.2119). Robert Elgood attributes that weapon to early 16th century South India, and suggests that the lotus bud knop may be a vestige of early Sri Lankan axe forms, which contained a spike driven through the haft to secure the axe head (Robert Elgood, Hindu Arms and Ritual: Arms and Armour from India 1400-1850, Delft: Eburon, 2004, p.186).The form of the present axe head continued to be popular in South and East India, and several 19th century practical examples are associated with the Khond people of southern Odisha (see for example, axe heads in British Museum, London, As.8800, As,+.2327 and As.8335, and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 36.25.1817).

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