Skip to main content

Mace Head: E.17.1898

An image of Mace head

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 20

Titles

Mace Head

Entities

Categories

Description

Limestone mace head. This form is known as pear shape. Mace heads are symbolic of the power of the king. The ruler of is often shown on temple reliefs smiting Egyptian enemies with such a weapon. A wooden stick (now missing would have been pushed through the drilled core of the mace so that it could be used as a weapon.

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 6 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1898) by Egyptian Research Account

Dating

Predynastic
Early Dynastic
About -3000 - About -2500

Materials used in production

Limestone

Techniques used in production

Carved
Drilled

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: E.17.1898
Primary reference Number: 49558
Oldadmincategory: S
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 18 July 2025 Last processed: Monday 1 September 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Mace Head" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/49558 Accessed: 2025-12-05 19:43:11

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/49558 |title=Mace Head |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 19:43:11|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-49558

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant5/E_17_1898.jpg"
        alt="Mace Head"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Mace Head</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...