Ceremonial knife "ada ogun" · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3041485
sold
EUR 2,100
Provenance
Anthony J. Stout, Washington D.C., USA (1962)Roy Stacy, Washington D.C., USA (1975)
Size
H: 50,5 cm
H: 19.9 inch
Description
bronze, brass, artfully curved blade, chased on both sides, handle in form of female head with partly open worked coiffure, traces of corrosion, acrylic base;
probably a so-called “ada ogun” or “sword of ogun”, Lord over iron and weapons, the patron of all Yoruba iron-workers. Kept by the master of the local guild of smiths, it served as an emblem of the craft group.
Comparing literature
Fischer, Werner & Manfred A. Zirngibl, Afrikanische Waffen, Passau 1978, p. 14, ill. 4