A gilt saddle-axe (tabarzin), North-west India, Bikaner, 18th century

Ex-collection Joseph Ambroise Soulingeas (1859-1939).

Originally attached as secretary of the Compagnie des Ardoisières de Travassac in Corrèze, Joseph Ambroise Soulingeas served as a junior officer in New Caledonia during his military service. For more than five years, he toured the whole area and collected a large number of ethnographic objects. Upon his return, he became involved in the Prehistoric Society, of which he became Vice-President in 1920, while also presiding over the Society of Scientific Excursions. His excavations in Corrèze were particularly fruitful and enriched the collection of the Labenche Museum in Brive, to which Soulingeas also donated a large part of his ethnographic collection.

The shape and proportions of this axe are reminiscent of Persian prototypes widely used in India, like those produced by Iranian craftsman Lutf 'Ali (see Melikian-Chirvani in Elgood 1989, p.117-135). Comparable examples are in the Wallace collection (inv. no.OA1610 and OA1598). Two related Bikaner saddle-axes were sold in these rooms, 26 October 2022, lot 117, and 25 October 2017, lot 171.