A QAJAR ENGRAVED SILVER-INLAID STEEL AXE (TABAR) Qajar Iran, 19th century Of typical shape, with a slender faceted steel shaft terminating in a rounded pommel, the top characterised by a typical double crescent axe head (tabarzin) with a bulging ring in the centre and a spiky spearhead surmounting a damascened scalloped arabesque medallion, around the crescentic cutting edge and profiles silver-inlaid vegetal meanderings, the centre decorated with silver-inlaid roundels with interlocking split palmette scrolls, flanked by incised pairs of gazelles or deer set against foliage, 60.5cm high.

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