Axe with Horse Heads and a Lion Head
Unknown · Iron Age II-III, 1st millennium BC
Look at the back of this bronze axe: the four spikes have become four horse heads, and at the front the blade issues from the open jaws of a lion. The whole weapon, nearly nineteen centimetres wide, is a small sculpture, with the animals cast in one piece with the socket and blade. The horses' manes and the lion's teeth are picked out in fine detail.
Axes with blades spat from a feline mouth are a hallmark of Luristan bronzework in the first millennium BC, and this example is dated to the Iron Age, in the Iron II or early Iron III phase. The image of a weapon emerging from a lion's mouth gave the blade the power of the animal, and the horses recall the importance of horsemanship for the highland peoples of the Zagros. The Louvre bought the axe in nineteen fifty eight. Like almost all Luristan bronzes, it comes from the art market rather than a documented excavation, so its find spot is unknown. Its craftsmanship, however, is beyond doubt.
Did You Know? The blade comes out of the lion's mouth as if the animal itself were biting.
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