Blade origin of Manding sword?

Jim McDougall · 28th March 2014, 04:28 AM

Good question on that, and delving into those topics is yet another dimension in the study of these weapons. I would suggest good references on African crafts and textiles with focus on West Africa. These patterns often contain important tribal symbolism and even colors have key meanings in many cases.
A great book which deals a lot in the symbolisms in African material culture, though focused on jewelry, is "Africa Adorned" by Angela Fisher. It is a huge volume but fantastically photographed and lots of fascinating detail on tribes and their traditional styles and effects .

blue lander · 28th March 2014, 06:54 PM

According to this site , there's a tradition of printed fabrics in Africa.

African print fabrics come from a batik tradition and were imported from Indonesia starting in the colonial period. On some piece there are still tags that reference "wax-resist" and/or "Java." Depending upon where you are on the continent this cloth can be referred to as lappa (Liberia, Sierra Leone), wrappa, pagne (Francophone West Africa), kanga (East Africa)

This site has several African prints that look somewhat similar to what's on this hilt.

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28th March 2014, 04:28 AM	#1
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,348	Good question on that, and delving into those topics is yet another dimension in the study of these weapons. I would suggest good references on African crafts and textiles with focus on West Africa. These patterns often contain important tribal symbolism and even colors have key meanings in many cases. A great book which deals a lot in the symbolisms in African material culture, though focused on jewelry, is "Africa Adorned" by Angela Fisher. It is a huge volume but fantastically photographed and lots of fascinating detail on tribes and their traditional styles and effects .

28th March 2014, 06:54 PM	#2
blue lander Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 456	According to this site , there's a tradition of printed fabrics in Africa. African print fabrics come from a batik tradition and were imported from Indonesia starting in the colonial period. On some piece there are still tags that reference "wax-resist" and/or "Java." Depending upon where you are on the continent this cloth can be referred to as lappa (Liberia, Sierra Leone), wrappa, pagne (Francophone West Africa), kanga (East Africa) This site has several African prints that look somewhat similar to what's on this hilt.