Dagger with curved blade and wood handle mounted with silver & brass. [SM 27/04/2007]

Collection type: Object
Description: Dagger with curved blade and wood handle mounted with silver & brass. [SM 27/04/2007]
Long description: Dagger with curved blade and wood handle mounted with silver & brass. The blade is double edged; the convex edge ceasing halfway from the point. The handle is mounted with brass and silver. Painted with red designs on one side, flat horse-shoe edged pommel of silver and brass. The silver and brass are decorated with incised patterns. [SM 24/04/2007]
Geographical reference: Northern Africa
Africa > Northern Africa; Unknown
Cultural groups: Moor
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1862
Date collected: By 1862
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Iron Metal, Material Silver Metal, Material Wood Plant, Material Brass Metal, Material Pigment, Process Painted, Process Niello, Process Carved, Process Forged (Metal), Process Incised, Process Decorated
Dimensions: Length x Width: max 375 x 56 mm, Weight 223.6 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.24.267.1 PR Cat other PR nos: 1142
Research and responses: The following notes are drawn from research compiled by Andy Mills as part of the DCF Cutting Edge Project 2006-2007. This Moorish koummya is a fine and functional two-edged knife, slightly curved. It is the North African variant of the Arabic janbiyya and Ethipian gile, and was brought into the Maghreb by Arabic peoples at the turn of the first millennium AD. Conventionally, such knives are worn slung hilt-forwards from a baldrick on the left side, unlike the jambiyya, which is worn across the stomach. Both are considered the formal accoutrement of adult men, and can be seen as closely related to the Greek Peasant Knife [1941.10.83] in Case 7A, and the Mediterranean Honour and Shame Culture that is discussed in that entry. The koummya was generally used in an overarm stabbing attack (Koummya Website www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/koummya/index.html). Insofar as it is closely associated with adult masculinity, and everyday display, it is not surprising that the lead-silver and red velted surface embellishment of the scabbard occurs only on the outer side, making the most of the visible side, without wasting precious materials on that side most subject to wear and least subject to observation.
The scabbard is both beautiful and interesting. The exceptionally curved point of the scabbard, terminating in a small knob, enhances the curved appearance of the knife overall. This curvature also alludes to repulsion of the Evil Eye, as we saw in the case of the flissa, as it depicts the tusk of a boar – i.e. a highly aggressive animal (see The Magic Origin of Moorish Designs. by E. Westermarck in the ‘Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute’ Vol.34, pp. 211-222, published 1904.). Similarly, the interlocking lozenges incorporated into the lead-silver fretwork of the scabbard themselves each allude to an eye-form, as well as generating an overlapping third eye-form lozenge, and a pair of crosses at their intersections. These crosses, composed of five distinct points, refer to the five fingers of the protective hand of Ali or Fatima, which are widely employed as protection against the Evil Eye (Westermarck, ibid.). As one might expect of the more orthodox Islam practiced in Moorish, rather than Berber, society, these symbols are more distantly abstracted from the things they represent. [SM 16/06/2008]

Search terms: Weapon, Tool, Knife, Dagger