A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon. Processions often feature maces, as on parliamentary or formal academic occasions.
Ceremonial mace of the Queensland Parliament, Australia
Ceremonial mace (left hand) depicted on a stela from Nimrud
French ceremonial mace, 18th century
Mace of the City of London
A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strikes. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring a head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel.
Various Eastern maces, from left: Bozdogan/buzdygan (Ottoman), tabar-shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), gurz (Indian), shishpar (Indian).
A mural of Bhima with his mace
Disc-shaped stone macehead, Egypt, Naqada culture
Moche stone maces. Larco Museum Collection (Lima-Peru)