Saddle Axe

As the name implies, small axes of this type, tabarzin in Persian, were carried beneath a horseman’s saddle, ready for use in handto-hand combat. The blade of this example is forged from crucible (“watered”) steel and is delicately chiseled with foliage and splitleaf arabesques that point to an eighteenth-century date.

Credit: Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935