Yaka (Mbeeli Ya Phoko) Sword
Yaka - Suku
Kwango District, Congo- Kasaï, Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Early 20th century (ca. 1910 - 1930)
Wood, leather, steel, iron, elephant ivory
Blade: 34,3cm
Hilt & Blade: 53,3cm
Hilt, Blade, Sheath: 61,6cm
Collection Date: 2022
Collection Number: 299

Ex. Dutch Private Collection: Brusselseweg- Maastricht, Netherlands (2022)

Sword of the Yaka or Suku People in Southwestern Congo. The double-edged steel blade has finely incised dot decorations along its center. Wood hilt wrapped in leather with iron rings and studs. Elephant ivory carved pommel. Sheath of leather over wood with an iron mouth.

The pommel original iron spike has been replaced at some point with an ivory carved pommel as it was likely broken or missing, albeit an interesting adaptation.

• “Beauté Fatale. 1992. Armes d’ Afrique Centrale”. Page 246 – 253, Cat 501

• W. O. Oldman. December 1904. “Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographic Specimens”. List No. 21; Item #12 (4271)

• Spring, Christopher. 1993. “African Arms and Armor”. Page 64

• http://oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=4206

• http://oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=189

• https://africanarms.com/gallery?yaka-suku-heavy-sword-73-5-cm

• https://ertribal.com/index.php/tribal-art/blades/short-sword-sheath-mbeeli-ya-phoko-yaka-suku-dr-congo

• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1910-0420-615-a

• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1907-0528-151-a

• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1979-01-5108

• https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/355836

• https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/142325

• https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-79576