Arts of the Islamic World & India

Arts of the Islamic World & India

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 168. A Seljuq mace head, Khurasan or Transoxiana, 12th or 13th century.

A Seljuq mace head, Khurasan or Transoxiana, 12th or 13th century

Estimate

1,500 - 2,500 GBP

Lot Details

Description

of bulbous form in bronze, with four carved floral cartouches on the head and carved ornamental calligraphic inscription against a scrolling vine ground along the neck

11cm.

Philippe Missillier Collection, no. 3C

inscriptions

possibly … iqbāl (‘... good fortune’)


Mace heads of the medieval period in Iran dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries took several distinctive forms: one group has an octagonal cross section with fluted flanges (Mohamed 2008, pp.246-7); a second group has more developed projecting flanges (Mohamed 2008, p.248), while a third group has animals including dragons forming the head (Mohamed 2008 pp.239-245). The present example with a spherical head, decorated with an inscription characteristic of Khurasan metalwork of the twelfth-thirteenth century, is from a less-common fourth group.

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