Yaka (Mbeeli Ya Phoko) Sword
Yaka (Mbeeli Ya Phoko) Sword
Yaka or Suku
Yaka Kingdom - Kwango District, Congo Free State - Congo- Kasaï, Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Early 20th century (ca. 1900 - 1930)
Wood, leather, steel, iron, ivory
Blade: 34,cm
Hilt & Blade: 53cm
Hilt, Blade, Sheath: 61,9cm
Collection Date: 2022
Collection Number: 299
Ex. Dutch Private Collection: Brusselseweg- Maastricht, Netherlands (2022)
A Mbeeli Ya Phoko sword used by the Yaka and Suku people of Southwestern Congo and Angola border region. The flat double- edged steel blade has four linear patterns of incised dot decorations along its center. The immediate center plane still retains some of its original black resin.
The hilt with a wooden interior bound in a leather exterior. The middle segment incorporates an openwork crown- like basket composed of curved iron rings. The base of the hilt is decorated in a series of iron tacks. The large cylindrical pommel of elephant ivory having a bulbous end is a replacement of the traditional spiked steel pommel. The pommel resembles Azande or Mangbetu small knife hilts and was likely replaced due to damage at some point. The edges match up very well as if it was fit for this sword, but I am unsure when it could have been replaced. Paddle shaped sheath with a wooden interior wrapped in leather. An iron band is present at the top. A very good Yaka sword with a unique pommel adaptation.
[1] “Beauté Fatale. 1992. Armes d’ Afrique Centrale”. Page 246 – 253, Cat 501
[2] W. O. Oldman. December 1904. “Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographic Specimens”. List No. 21; Item #12 (4271)
[3] Spring, Christopher. 1993. “African Arms and Armor”. Page 64
[4] https://collections.penn.museum/collections/object/352797
[5] https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-79576
[6] https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-81466
[7] https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/142325
[8] https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/124055
[9] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1979-01-5108
[10] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1907-0528-151-a
[11] http://oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=4206
[12] http://oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=189
[14] https://africanarms.com/gallery?10-yaka-55cm-with-scabbard-64-cm