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Barnebys HQ
Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Medals, Arms & Armour / Egyptian Predynastic Hematite Mace Head
North Africa, Egypt, Predynastic Period. A mace head of dense hematite, ground into a compact, rounded pear shape and pierced lengthwise to take a wooden haft. The stone has a deep oxblood-to-black luster, with rusty red showing through where the polish thins. Working a mineral this hard into a nearly perfect sphere would have taken many hours of grinding with abrasive sand. That effort suggests the piece was probably a mark of rank as much as a weapon. In Predynastic Egypt the mace became a symbol of authority, and heads of fine, hard stones like this one were likely meant for display and burial with an elite owner rather than for everyday use. It is mounted on a custom display stand. The mace is one of the earliest symbols of royal power in the Nile Valley. Flattened disc-shaped heads were made first, and pear-shaped forms like this one became common in the later Predynastic period. The motif lasted well beyond that age. Scenes of the pharaoh "smiting" his enemies with a raised mace, first seen on monuments such as the Narmer Palette, stayed part of Egyptian royal imagery for about three thousand years. Item # 204445
Estimate:£264.86
To the auctionView all items fromArtemis Fine ArtsorMedals, Arms & Armour
Estimate:
£264.86
OCT 8 | 3:00 PM
OCT 8 | 3:00 PM
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£1,696.49
OCT 17 | 10:00 PM
