- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Knife with broad ogee shaped blade and wooden hilt inlaid with lead. [SM 26/04/2007]
- Long description
- Knife with broad ogee shaped blade and wooden hilt inlaid with lead. The blade is double edged and has grooves that follow the curve of the edges on both sides. The blade has polished and dull/blackened sections (with black pigment?), creating a decorative effect. The hilt has a blunt ended pommel. [SM 26/04/2007]
- Geographical reference
- Kasai District Kwilu River Region
- Cultural groups
- Kuba
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1905
- Date collected
- 1905 - 1906
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1907
- Materials and processes
- Material Iron Metal, Material Wood Plant, Material Lead Metal, Material Pigment, Process Forged (Metal), Process Carved, Process Inlaid, Process Grooved, Process Decorated
- Dimensions
- Length: max 360 mm, Width: max 98 mm, Weight 366.1 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1907.21.25
- 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 Kuba knife / shortsword is an Ikul – the ubiquitous knife of all adult men. As we have seen repeatedly in other cultural contexts, the sword served as a symbol of adult masculinity for the Kuba. The Kuba are notable for the importance of blacksmithing, and the bearing of weaponry, within their cultural elaboration of the institutions of class, gender, and the Kuba kingship as a whole. Smithing was (alongside weaving and a select few other arts) considered a royal art. There are certain kinds of Ikul (those bearing a conical pommel) which were first designed and created by King Shyaam aMbul aNgoong in the early 17th century (see African Arms & Armour by C. Spring, published 1988 by British Museum Press. pp.88-9), and carried by those Kuba of the ruling Bushoong clan as a symbol of peaceful reign.
Ours here is the more conventional form of Ikul, worn by those men of the other Kuba clans, which has a flat pommel incised with an attractive interlaced design very reminiscent of the weaving to be seen on Kuba mats and the Kuba spear across the gallery. This sword exhibits a distinctive feature of a number of Central African blades, which is the Z-shaped section termed ogee by some scholars. The blade has very attractive curved fullers, and the two sides of the blade on each side present a negative of each other, which is enhanced by the application of black paint. [SM 16/06/2008]
1907.21.25
Knife with broad ogee shaped blade and wooden hilt inlaid with lead. [SM 26/04/2007]
On display
1907.21.25
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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