AXE

This ceremonial axe is one of the masterpieces in the museum collection. Likely to be the only piece of its kind in the world, not a single bronze axe within Indonesia and Vietnam (long deemed to be the centre of distribution of such quality pieces) even comes close to its high caliber. Made of bronze, this axe has a beautiful patina in the shades of deep and brownish greens, and its blade and long handle have been decorated elaborately, while the process applied to create the piece is known as the ‘casting method’. Such an axe most probably was not intended for daily use, but based on other find of bronze axes, would have been used for ceremonial purposes only. This piece is directly linked to the Dongson culture of Vietnam.