Estimate
€ 800 - 1.000
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€ 960
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Information
29 x 29 cm
Ritual knife.
Forged iron blade, handle wrapped with copper plate, spur covered with metal mesh. Glaze from the era.
Local Kota names: Osele or MuseleLocal Fang name: Onzil
This is a Kota weapon that was also made by the Fang in similar styles.Its purpose is associated with young people’s initiations rites. During their circumcision ceremonies, they brandish the weapon, which thus becomes a symbol of their maturity.The shape of this knife evokes the head of a bird, where the triangle carved out constitutes the eye. Its origin is perhaps connected to spurred throwing knives common in Chad, along the middle course of the Sangha River and the Upper Ubangi.
Ritual knife.
Forged iron blade, handle wrapped with copper plate, spur covered with metal mesh. Glaze from the era.
Local Kota names: Osele or MuseleLocal Fang name: Onzil
This is a Kota weapon that was also made by the Fang in similar styles.Its purpose is associated with young people’s initiations rites. During their circumcision ceremonies, they brandish the weapon, which thus becomes a symbol of their maturity.The shape of this knife evokes the head of a bird, where the triangle carved out constitutes the eye. Its origin is perhaps connected to spurred throwing knives common in Chad, along the middle course of the Sangha River and the Upper Ubangi.
Literature
FISCHER WERNER & ZIRNGIBL MANFRED A. Afrikanische Waffen, Passau 1978, pag. 187, fig. 343 (202);
PERROIS LOUIS, Art ancestral du Gabon dans les collections du Musée Barbier-Mueller, Genève 1985, pagg. 62, 63 e 187 (Osele, Musele, Onzil) (106) ;
ELSEN JAN, Les haches à tete d’oiseau. Société secrète et rites d’initiation, . Su Arts & Cultures 2020, Genève, pagg. 152 - 157;
MESTDAGH PATRICK, Couteaux de jet: Ou la collection d'un peintre, Bruxelles 2003, gruppo XIV (528)
PERROIS LOUIS, Art ancestral du Gabon dans les collections du Musée Barbier-Mueller, Genève 1985, pagg. 62, 63 e 187 (Osele, Musele, Onzil) (106) ;
ELSEN JAN, Les haches à tete d’oiseau. Société secrète et rites d’initiation, . Su Arts & Cultures 2020, Genève, pagg. 152 - 157;
MESTDAGH PATRICK, Couteaux de jet: Ou la collection d'un peintre, Bruxelles 2003, gruppo XIV (528)