SPATULA AXE. An ancient oxidized bronze tool of "spoon" form, the spatulate blade with bevelled edges and weak mid-rib, the tang with chisel edge terminal joins the blade by a swelling shank with flanked edges, the flanges closing over the extended mid-rib forming a plant-like moulding; mounted on a metal rod on a stained wood plinth. Oxidized bronze (blue-green patina). French, Rhône Valley. Early Middle Bronze Age (circa 1700 - 1400 BC). Old label, now missing, indicates Neuville s. Saone, indicating that piece was found in the Western French Alps - 12 in. high x 1 7/8 in. wide. Estimate $8,000-10,000
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Paul de Riverieuix, Vicomte de Varax (born 1840), Lyon. Collection of Lord McAlpine, London. Frederick Schultz Ancient Art, New York Sale January 8, 1994.
EXHIBITION:
Power Tools The Stone Age and Bronze Age in Northern Europe, Frederick Schultz Ancient Art, New York, November 18, 1993 - January 29, 1994, catalogue entry number 68, illustrated.
LITERATURE:
Gallia Prehistoire 5, 1962, pages 247 - 248. Antiquities in the Collection of The Lord McAlpine of West Green, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, text by Ann Brown, et al, 1987, pages 12 - 13 and 99 - 100, Number 10.4, illustrated.
ILLUSTRATED:
"Were Ancient Europeans Collectors?", Rita Reif, New York Times, Sunday, January 9, 1994, page 37.
