- Title
- Mace
- Date Made
- 19th century
- Medium
- Steel, gilt
- Dimensions
- 33 1/2 × 6 1/4 in. (85.09 × 15.88 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2002.1.582
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
Maces were wielded on Iranian battlefields since pre-Islamic times; however, this nineteenth-century example was not intended for combat. Rather, with its elegant gilding and fanged demon head, this mace may have been used ceremonially in dervish processions or initiation rites, or as a prop in performances, including Shi‘ite religious dramas and staged recitations of the Shahnama, the Iranian national epic, whose heroes are often described as carrying emblematic maces.
- Selected Bibliography
Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Fine Oriental Miniatures, Manuscripts, Islamic Works of Art, and 19th Century Paintings (Sale 4264). New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1979.
