The bird heads, now bent out of plane, may have been fashioned entirely out of gold. Other areas, such as the kilt and wings of the central figures and the body and wings of the dragon, were gilt with foil brushed down over the silver. In addition to gilding, the bodies of the figures were articulated by extensive chasing. Although the materials used indicate that this axe head served a ceremonial function, the remains of wood preserved inside the shaft hole indicate that it was mounted on a haft when buried. The griffin-demons, combining human and bird features, were apparently heroic and beneficent; they dominate a contorted boar, forming the edge of the blade by grabbing its snout while grasping the neck of an aggressive Bactrian dragon.

Western Central Asia

Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus
Metropolitan Museum of Art