Mace Head
ca. 4000–3400 B.C.E.
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Masterpieces of Stone Carving
During the Predynastic Period, Egyptians mastered the working of even the hardest stone.
They especially favored attractively colored stones, like the porphyry, breccia, and obsidian shown here. To create the mace head (war club) and jar in this case, an artisan laboriously ground and polished the stones with increasingly fine abrasives. A method called flaking—carefully applying pressure with another stone—produced the serrated obsidian object.
During the Predynastic Period, Egyptians mastered the working of even the hardest stone.
They especially favored attractively colored stones, like the porphyry, breccia, and obsidian shown here. To create the mace head (war club) and jar in this case, an artisan laboriously ground and polished the stones with increasingly fine abrasives. A method called flaking—carefully applying pressure with another stone—produced the serrated obsidian object.
Caption
Mace Head, ca. 4000–3400 B.C.E.. Porphyry, 15/16 x 3 9/16 in. (2.4 x 9.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.873. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Title
Mace Head
Date
ca. 4000–3400 B.C.E.
Period
Predynastic Period, Naqada I Period - early Naqada II Period
Geography
Possible place collected: El Ma'mariya, Egypt, Possible place collected: Adaima, Egypt
Medium
Porphyry
Classification
Dimensions
15/16 x 3 9/16 in. (2.4 x 9.1 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
07.447.873
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