Trumbash (Emambele)
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Trumbash (Emambele)
Mangbetu
Haut- Uéle District, Orientale Province, Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
First half of the 20th century
Iron, wood, brass, copper
Blade: 11 3/4" (29.8cm)
Hilt & Blade: 20 1/4" (51.4cm)
Hilt, Blade, Sheath: -
Collection Date: 2026
Collection Number: 524
Ex. American Art Market (2026)
Trumbash "sickle knife," also known as the emambele, is a symbolic object of rank within the Mangbetu and surrounding peoples. Trumbash are also used as a form of iron currency, and their styles of blacksmithing can vary with the angle of the blade, number of protrusions, holes, materials used, and decorations.
The hand- forged sickle shaped iron blade ends with a flaired tip. The front side having a strong medial ridge extending from the base to the point. Flat on the reverse side. One circular pierced hole is present on the right side with a protrusion on the left. The base of the blade extends adjacent to a second protrusion and continues to extend downward to the hilt. Wooden carved cylindrical I- shaped hilt decorated in brass and copper tacks at the top and bottom sections. The blade was likely damaged at some point in its working life at the tang and reforged into the shape seen here, possibly mimicking a nagata prestige blade. A larger than average example with an interesting blade shape.
Photograph 13: Illustration of the Mangbetu King Mbunza in the royal court, 1870. Illustration by German botanist and explorer, George Schweinfurth (The first European to visit a court of a Mangbetu King). Published by Harper & Bros, 1874.
[1] https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/objects/thrown-weapon-442878
[2] https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-146120
[3] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1898-169
[4] https://galleryrider.com/index.php/african-art/archive/asymmetrical-blades/nagata-04