RARE BRONZE AGE DECORATED CEREMONIAL AXE

Ca. 900-700 BC. Koban-Caucasian Culture. A very rare bronze axe, richly decorated with geometric ornaments on the crescentic blade and a range of vertical ribs at the butt. Excellent condition; beautiful patina. The Koban culture was a tribal culture in the Central Caucasus during the transitional period from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age which produced high levels of applied art. Koban findings confirm that the Koban culture was in constant communication and exchange not only with Caucasian neighbours, but also with the tribes of the Crimea, the Northern Black Sea, Asia Minor, and especially with other important centres of bronze metallurgy – Luristan (Western Iran) and the Carpathian-Danube area (Austria, Bohemia, Bavaria). For more information on Koban axes, see Przeworski S. (1939). Die Metallindustrie Anatoliens in der Zeit von 1500-700 vor Chr., Leiden.Size: L:65mm / W:190mm ; 460g. Provenance: Property of a European collector, previously acquired from a London gentleman in 2018; formerly in the collection of R.P.T., acquired from a Brighton gallery in the UK in 1999.