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This striking, finely carved Makonde title or prestige staff has a wonderfully zoomorphic form. A wooden or metal blade attachment would have originally fitted into a slot towards the end of the animal's snout (as seen in the photograph). Geometric decorations in a box form feature on both sides of the head of the animal, and the surface of the staff exhibits a worn patina - particularly around the lower section of the handle. This prestige staff would have been carried as a sign of rank and title by a Makonde male elder, in which the head of the animal would have rested on his shoulder.
Ex Private Collection, UK
Estimated Period: First Half of 20th Century
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