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Ceremonial Object in the Shape of an Ax

ca. 100 BCE–300 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 244
This remarkable ceremonial object, a conceptual as well as technical tour de force, almost certainly functioned as a percussive instrument to be suspended and struck. Striations on the flanged neck, resembling the raised markings of crocodile skin, are combined with lozenge patterning and may have helped secure the rope from which the instrument was hung. An anthropomorphic face with spiral banding and a sawtooth pattern appear on the reverse. The object bears close comparison with the so-called Makassar Axe in the National Museum of Indonesia, found in southern Sulawesi a century ago.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ceremonial Object in the Shape of an Ax
  • Period: Bronze and Iron Age
  • Date: ca. 100 BCE–300 CE
  • Culture: Indonesia, possibly Sulawesi
  • Medium: Bronze alloy
  • Dimensions: H. 41 3/8 in. (105.1 cm); W. 26 1/2 in. (67.3 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork
  • Credit Line: Purchase, George McFadden Gift and Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1993
  • Object Number: 1993.525
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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