Description: This historic, museum quality, and well preserved ISLAMIC war axe and club is made from a large slab of natural slate and has been in a private NE Indiana collection for 25 years. It has Arabic Islamic calligraphy (translated below). Likely from the 15th-16th century. The slate is typical of what Neolithic tools and weapons were made from during prehistoric and historic eras. The 1" tip of the axe - club is missing (patina would indicate a very old chip). The chips on the edges of the concave side of the weapon are not knapped. I suspect they occurred during battle by being struck by another weapon. Those chips have patina in them and occurred after the side of the weapon was inscribed since slivers of the writing are gone with the chip. Description - This early Islamic axe and club is heavy slate with a wooden handle. The handle is contoured to fit a hand and fingers and is attached by two wooden pins. The area between the wood and slate has a composite of what appears to be sawdust and pitch. It is very well made, solid and intact with excellent patina on its entire surface. The overall length of the weapon is 15”. The exposed slate is 7.5”. The blade is approximately 3” wide by 1.1” thick. The writing on the 1.1" edge of the axe - club appears to be inscribed later than the inscriptions on the sides. Early Islamic weapon makers utilized artistic calligraphy to incorporate piety and power into their weapon designs. Per the NY Met Museum website - “Apart from floral and animal motifs, a dominant part of Islamic iconography on arms and armor is confined to calligraphy. Although the representation of (sacred) figures is not strictly forbidden in the Qur'an, images as objects of devotion were avoided in Islamic art from its very beginning. Islamic artists relied instead on the words of the Prophet Muhammad to inspire and to give literal shape to their designs. As a result, calligraphy in Islamic lands developed into a fine art, becoming in the process the principal form of religious ornament. Thus, Islamic arms and armor were often decorated with a wide variety of Qur’anic passages and pious invocations, which functioned as expressions of piety, as powerful defenses in the form of talismans or simply as visually pleasing ornament.” Attribution: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isaa/hd_isaa.htm The slate axe - club is decorated with these pious statements: Arabic on top side reads – (Shahada) “There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”; Arabic on large flat side reads – “Glory be to God (Sabhan Allah) Praise be to God (Alhamdulillah) God is great (Allahu Akbar).”; Arabic adjacent to flat side haft reads – “Allah”. Provenance - Bought at Military Auction – Central Ohio in 1999; 1999 – Present – Private Collection in NE Indiana
Price: 4995 USD
Location: Bluffton, Indiana
End Time: 2025-01-04T18:39:11.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Culture: Middle Eastern
