Rare and beautiful ceremonial axe (perhaps royal) fuction symbol belonging to the chief of the Mwa Mangana land, Angola.

Rare sculpture at the top of the handle of a Cihongo mask with a chief's hairstyle, worn by high dignitaries masters of the land. These axes are the symbol of power.
Beautiful forged and incised blade, entering the part of the wood decorated with chevrons and small round holes geometrically arranged. The handle completed in the lower part by a coiled brass wire.

Rare piece in the corpus, where we don't know of a copy including a mask carved on the top of the handle.

To see :

• Musée Ethnographique de Genève N° ETHAF 045131 and N° 045132 for a ritual axe from Angola
• Christié’s November sale 1983 London lot N° 223
• Artcurial sale Paris june 2006 N°33.