Recade, 19th century ·  Republic of Benin (former Kingdom of Dahomey), Region Abomey, Fon · ID: 3047106

Description

wood, metal,
Recades served the king’s representative to identify himself as the bearer of a royal message (“récadère”) and gave him of the authority appropriate to his function.

The sender of the message could be identified by the symbol attached to the recade.

The present example shows the symbol of the pineapple at the round end of the blade. It originally stands for King Agonglo (1789-1797) and is associated with the following proverb: “Thunder can destroy the palm tree, but never the pineapple plant”. With this, Agonglo wanted to express that he would always defeat his enemies.

Comparing literature

Wilhelm, Gustav, Récaden aus der Sammlung Birgit Schlothauer und Gustav Wilhelm, Marl 2016, p. 6