Bronze mace head with cereal grain decoration. Luristan / Bactria, 2nd half 3rd millennium BC L 23.4 cm, ø 3 cm. Narrow, cylindrical shaft tube with a slightly flared head, decorated with the so-called grain grain decoration in a herringbone pattern in three elongated, rectangular fields. The fields are separated from each other by three vertical ridges. The decorative area is bordered at the top and bottom by three horizontal rings, which are also found in the lower shaft area. The foot has a sweeping design. Cf. Christie's London, sale 9599 13 May 2003, ex lot 258; Collection Jean Paul Barbier, Genève, Hôtel Drouot Paris, 27 May 1970, no. 86. An example of this type is in the ancient oriental collection of the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. Our piece had a ceremonial function, as indicated by the rich decoration and the lack of a hole for the shafting. The present specimen is only prepared for a thin wooden staff and therefore no longer served its original purpose. Club heads were no longer used as fighting implements very early on. Dark green patina, remnants of sinter, intact. Provenance: Ex collection Dr. Klaus Marquardt, North Rhine-Westphalia, 1980s to 2009.