Duende Art Projects

Technique: Anonymous Mangbetu artist D.R. Congo, Early 20th century Iron. 22 cm Provenance Bruno Frey, Arnay-le-duc, France, -2013 Bruno Claessens, Antwerp, Belgium, 2013-2023 Duende Art Projects, Antwerp, Belgium, 2023

Size: 22 x 0 cm

Authenticity: Certificate provided

Edition: Unique work

Mangbetu Prestige Knife

Important Mangbetu men and women wore these beautifully worked knives, that were both utilitarian items and prestigious ornaments. The use of the luxurious material ivory for the knife’s handle would demonstrate the wealth and status of the knife’s owner. Such dagger (locally known as sape or sapi) was worn in the belt, usually in a sheath. The present knife belongs to a rare type where the lower part of the iron blade takes the shape of an abstract anthropomorphic figure, a most create innovation of a talented blacksmith answering to the Mangbetu elite’s need for prestige objects to differentiate themselves from the hoi polloi.