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The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
[800 x 600 jpg]
| Submitted by | DrewParsons |
| Added | Oct 21 2017 |
| Hits | 450 |
| Votes | 1 |
Description
Detail of the lapiis lazuli ceremonial axe. October 2017
Posted Comments:
Runemage (2017-10-22)
That is spectacular quality, both in the piece of Lapis selected for the axe and the workmanship in the carving. There's a little more info here http://www.antic-art.ru/data/troy/7_four_axes/index.php apparently four axes were found, all made to a similar design and two were found to have been been gilded in antiquity.
DrewParsons (2017-10-22)
Glad you liked that one - so I will post another!!
Bladup (2017-10-22)
Gorgeous, Can I have One? I'm surprised this one isn't one of the axes with gilding, The Blue with the gold would have looked amazing together.
Runemage (2017-10-22)
Thanks Drew, much appreciated :-)
This particular axe has been made from a rare piece of lapis. I've never seen a piece formed with stripes like that. I googled for images of lapis with pyrites striations (that's what the gold coloured stripes are in the axe) and could only find one but unfortunately there's no sense of scale https://i.pinimg.com/236x/58/fe/6f/58fe6fc4e6e2f70983c1ad511e7fe2b1--afghanistan-lapis-lazuli.jpg so that confirms (to me anyway!) that the piece of lapis they used was very rare and precious even before they carved it into the beautiful axe we see today.
In my enthusiasm I see my former comment didn't make it clear, there are four axes in the museum but only one is lapis,
"Axes differ in size, weight, materials, of which they are made, as well as elements of decoration. Two of them - Aar 165 and Aar 167 - are supposedly made of a nephrite; one - Aar 166 - of jadeitite; and one more - Aar 168 - from lapis lazuli. "
snip
"In the process of studying these exhibits, when examining them using a halogen light source, depressions of ornaments on the axes of axes Aar 166 [jadeite] and Aar 167 [supposed nephrite] revealed the remains of the finest layer of gold, indicating that in ancient times these areas were gilded."
This particular axe has been made from a rare piece of lapis. I've never seen a piece formed with stripes like that. I googled for images of lapis with pyrites striations (that's what the gold coloured stripes are in the axe) and could only find one but unfortunately there's no sense of scale https://i.pinimg.com/236x/58/fe/6f/58fe6fc4e6e2f70983c1ad511e7fe2b1--afghanistan-lapis-lazuli.jpg so that confirms (to me anyway!) that the piece of lapis they used was very rare and precious even before they carved it into the beautiful axe we see today.
In my enthusiasm I see my former comment didn't make it clear, there are four axes in the museum but only one is lapis,
"Axes differ in size, weight, materials, of which they are made, as well as elements of decoration. Two of them - Aar 165 and Aar 167 - are supposedly made of a nephrite; one - Aar 166 - of jadeitite; and one more - Aar 168 - from lapis lazuli. "
snip
"In the process of studying these exhibits, when examining them using a halogen light source, depressions of ornaments on the axes of axes Aar 166 [jadeite] and Aar 167 [supposed nephrite] revealed the remains of the finest layer of gold, indicating that in ancient times these areas were gilded."
Blingo von Trumpenstein (2017-10-29)
Blimey - that beats my best crazy blue pointbutted flint axe. I can't think of any other axes I have ever seen made of Lapis and I also can't think of any similar type of Lapis. Also gilding of stone? I shall research further...Sensational
DrewParsons (2017-11-03)
You might be interested in this link to a page which shows a lovely striated piece of Lapis Lazuli. I have a similar piece in the shape of an orb which I bought in the Chitral area which borders Afghanistan
: https://www.mindat.org/photo-374471.html
The page takes a few seconds to load.
: https://www.mindat.org/photo-374471.html
The page takes a few seconds to load.
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