Iberian Peninsula to the indus

Bibliography: 
Ligabue, Salvatori 1988, 
pp. 234–235, fig. 102–103.
The blade of the axe is attached to a 
socket, where a wood handle would 
have been inserted. On the back of 
the socket, a small figure was added in 
the lost wax technique. A male figure 
wearing a long narrow mantel that 
covers his left arm, leaving his right 
arm free to rest on his thighs, is seated 
on a small mat. His face, with short 
cut beard and bushy eyebrows, looks 
wise and peaceful, lightened by a kind 
smile. The short hair is massed on 
the forehead and framed by two thin 
dreadlocks that spring in high relief 
from his temples. Such hairstyle occurs 
on a number of male figures engraved 
on metal vessels and on statuettes 
(
cat. 95–97
) and is a good indication 
that the axe was made in the Oxus 
civilization. Incrusted in gold threads 
in the copper alloy of the axe socket is 
a decorative motif of a rosette-shaped 
star in a pattern of scales, perhaps a 
stylized mountain landscape at night. 
Under this motif, a line drawing in gold 
represents, on each side of the axe, 
a seated silhouette seems to repeat 
the main figure, perhaps in prayer. The 
ornate weapon may be a dedication to 
the powers of the Underworld.
C.A.

---

249
248
93
“Scarface” WitH BlacK Kilt
Eastern Iran, Central Asia
Oxus Culture (ca. 2200–1800 BC)
Chlorite, limestone, red stone, gold, 
H. 19.4 cm, W. 10.6 cm
Private Collection, UK 
94
“Scarface” WitH WHite Kilt
Eastern Iran, Central Asia
Oxus culture (ca. 2200–1800 BC)
Chlorite, limestone, H. 11.5 cm
Private Collection, London, inv. 2150
The “Scarface”, so named on 
account of the deep gash that cuts 
across his face, is the most striking 
of the mythological genies in the 
art of the Oxus. They have been the 
subject of much speculation among 
scholars as to their provenance, 
date, function and identity.
1
About a 
dozen have reappeared since the late 
1960s, and they all present the same 
characteristics with small variants.
Their composite technique is similar 
to that employed for the “Oxus Lady” 
statuette, but the colour contrast 
is reversed: the body in two parts 
(one for the head, torso and arms, 
one for the legs) in dark chlorite, 
the kilt is generally carved from 
light calcite. 
Cat. 93
with a black kilt 
is an interesting variant. The very 
large head, about one-sixth of the 
total height of the figure, is sunk in 
the torso, with almost no neck. The 
stern face is fierce looking, the nose 
long and triangular, the eye sockets 
hollowed out for incrustation (often 
missing one or the other). The collar 
beard reaches down to the bulging 
pectorals, leaving free the tightly 
closed, unsmiling lips. Piercings 
in the upper and lower lips are 
incrusted in coloured stone, a type 
of jewellery present on the kneeling 
youth statuettes (
cat. 95–97
). The low 
forehead is often circled with a ring 
diadem sculpted together with the 
head (
cat. 94)
or incrusted in metal, 
iron or gold (
cat. 93
). The dome-like 
hair falls on the lower back, ending in 
a point. Only one such “Scarface”, the 
first to reappear, wears a “top hat” in 
stone (Ghirshman 1963).
The body, stocky and muscular, stands 
firmly on the legs, slightly apart, 
conveying the impression that the 
figure is gathering up his strength, as 
preparing for a confrontation. Some 
of the statuettes wear hoof-shaped 
shoes (
cat. 93
) or are cut at the ankles 
(
cat. 94
). The kilt, a short tubular skirt 
belted at the waist, is decorated with 
regularly spaced strips hanging from 
the belt and ending each in a cupula. 
The strips are deeply engraved and 
often retain traces of an adhesive or 
incrustations in coloured stone or 
gold. 
The entire skin is covered with a thin 
network of scales, quadrangular or 
round, sinuously underlining the 
muscles. As the woolly garment of 
the “Oxus Lady” is derived from the 
Mesopotamian