A Rare and Important Africa Initiation Axe / Club

Period: 19th century

Medium: Rhinoceros Horn, Iron

Dimension: 65.5 cm (25³/₄ inches)

Provenance: Ex K. Gormley, England
Ex Private collection

For a Rhinoceros Horn Ceremonial Prestige Axe, see Finch & Co, catalogue no. 7, item no. 94

Literature: Axes such as this fashioned from blond horn were not commonly used as weapons. They were insignia of military rank and as such were carried resting on the shoulder into the battlefield by chiefs and commanders.

Axes and knives were preserved as heirlooms among the peoples of Southern Africa and transmitted through generations to the next as important indicators of status. They also preserved and carried an aura of ancestral symbolism. The owner of this rare axe would have been a high ranking chief, and possibly ownership came through his prowess as a ‘hunter’. The more typical axes would have been fashioned in wood.