Western Asiatic Paddle-Shaped Axehead
2nd-1st millennium B.C. A copper-alloy axehead with curved cylindrical butt and socket, waisted neck and D-shaped cutting edge; incised scale decoration to the socket. Cf. Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, no.539, p.407, for similar. 353 grams, 12 cm (4 3/4 in.). Early 1990s London collection.Acquired on the UK art market.From a private collection, Lancashire, UK. These kind of axes had a simple but aesthetic form, with the round socket placed at the edge of the rounded butt which tapered smoothly to a flat, splayed crescent-shaped blade. [No Reserve]