African sword for ID

Jim McDougall · 4th September 2006, 10:33 PM

The swords of Central Africa are fantastic in that they reflect the art and material culture of the regions they are from so profoundly. Naturally such art exceeds geographic and tribal boundaries so it is extremely difficult to be certain of definite attribution without detailed provenance, however I would agree that Gabon, Cameroon and western Congo regions would be most likely.
In "Beaute Fatale: Arms d'Afrique Centrale" (Brussels, 1992), there are Fang courtswords with somewhat similar hilts (p.146) but the scabbards are not nearly as flamboyant as this one. It is interesting that the stylized symmetry of this scabbard recalls those of the Salampasu of Zaire, which appears to have possibly evolved from anthromorphic figures (p.133 and p.237 for comparisons).

I think it is interesting also that the disc type hilts and the crossguard with the quillon/crossguard/langet dynamics seem to represent influences of European weaponry and the centuries of colonial presence in these regions.
While many of the blades on these weapons are unusually flamboyant and clearly for ceremonial purposes, the blade on this one seems quite functional.

Best regards,
Jim

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4th September 2006, 10:33 PM	#6
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,292	The swords of Central Africa are fantastic in that they reflect the art and material culture of the regions they are from so profoundly. Naturally such art exceeds geographic and tribal boundaries so it is extremely difficult to be certain of definite attribution without detailed provenance, however I would agree that Gabon, Cameroon and western Congo regions would be most likely. In "Beaute Fatale: Arms d'Afrique Centrale" (Brussels, 1992), there are Fang courtswords with somewhat similar hilts (p.146) but the scabbards are not nearly as flamboyant as this one. It is interesting that the stylized symmetry of this scabbard recalls those of the Salampasu of Zaire, which appears to have possibly evolved from anthromorphic figures (p.133 and p.237 for comparisons). I think it is interesting also that the disc type hilts and the crossguard with the quillon/crossguard/langet dynamics seem to represent influences of European weaponry and the centuries of colonial presence in these regions. While many of the blades on these weapons are unusually flamboyant and clearly for ceremonial purposes, the blade on this one seems quite functional. Best regards, Jim