Solid Bronze Dagger
Possibly Akan, Fon, or Senufo, West Africa
Cast bronze
19th century

While most African knives, and indeed, most types of African art, fit into prescribed norms regarding their aesthetic, meaning, and function, there are invariably objects such as this, that don't fit within those defined boundaries. 

In composition, this dagger more closely resembles an Akan goldweight than an African knife, because it is composed of a single piece of cast-bronze, and not a distinct blade and handle. Additionally, the blade was never worked or sharpened, and was thus a purely symbolic rather than functional object. 

Colleagues have suggested that this piece could be an extra-large Ghanaian goldweight reserved for significant transactions, a ceremonial object from the Fon of Benin, or a Senufo ritual dagger from Ivory Coast. Each hypothesis is probable, because there are aesthestically similar objects from each culture, and each hypothesis is improbable, because there is no clear match anywhere. While it is almost certainly from West Africa and clearly never designed for functional use, all other hypotheses about this dagger are simply conjecture. 

What is clear is that the casting work is precise, and the color of the blade is slightly different on each side (perhaps indicating that it was stored for long periods of time on one side). 

This piece was decommissioned from the Old Slave Mart Museum in Charleston, South Carolina in 1988. It was acquired by the museum in 1955.

A piece that could be related, also a miniature knife made from a single piece of cast metal, is in the Hood Museum collection, here.

8.25 in :: 21 cm

InventoryID #13-1155

Not For Sale