Kuba Carved Wood Double Ikul Knife Sculpture, Raffia-Style Interlace Guard

Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kuba. A carved wood sculpture with two blades on one handle, cut from a single block. It is modeled on the leaf-shaped ikul knife of the Kuba peoples. The paired blades flare from narrow waists into pointed ovals, and each has a raised central ridge framed by grooves that follow its outline. They rise from a half-moon guard covered in tight diagonal interlace, the same angular meander that Kuba weavers stitch into raffia cloth. Below a thick collar, the handle opens into loops that wrap around each other like knotted cord, then narrows into a shaft set on a solid rectangular plinth. The surface has a warm reddish-brown patina. A wooden blade could never cut anything, so the piece was perhaps made for ritual or ceremonial display rather than use. The Kuba kingdom formed around the Kasai and Sankuru rivers in the south-central Congo basin. It was a confederation of related peoples led by a Bushoong king, and it had one of the most elaborate court cultures in Central Africa. Status was shown through objects. Titled men carried and displayed carved cups, boxes, and weapons as signs of their rank. Kuba oral tradition credits the ikul to King Shyaam a-Mbul a-Ngoong, the culture hero who is said to have founded the dynasty. He is said to have introduced the leaf-bladed knife as an emblem of peace, in place of the throwing knives of earlier times. Men wore the ikul at the belt as a sign of status and good conduct, not as a weapon. Iron versions had wooden hilts, and wooden versions were also made for display and dance. The interlace on the guard belongs to a large stock of Kuba geometric patterns. Each pattern has its own name, and the same designs appear on embroidered raffia cloth, carved cups, and the walls of houses. Doubling the blade and opening the handle into knotwork turns a familiar emblem into a freestanding sculpture. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 203931

Estimate:$500

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