Display dagger
Mangbetu
Description
Subject Matter:
This dagger once possibly belonged to an elite member of the Mangbetu community in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Daggers were sheathed and worn tucked into one's belt, as a display of distinction. It is also possible that this dagger was created for trade with European collectors. The handles of daggers created for consumption by Mangbetu aristocracy before the 1900's were most often abstract or geometric in form. The sculpted, anthropomorphic (human-shaped) shape of this dagger's ivory handle suggests that it was likely created around 1900 or later. The founding of the Congo Free State (1885-1905), privately owned by Belgium's King Leopold II and ruled as an absolute monarchy through devastating violence and the exploitation of people and resources in the region, was also accompanied by an increase in European traders and museum “expeditions” to the Mangbetu Kingdom, often with particular interest in collecting ivory and figurative sculpture.
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