Iron throwing knife from Zande or Adio origin
DR Congo, South Sudan, Central African Republic. 19th century
Transferred to the MEG in 1944 from the Musée Ariana Collection; probably purchased by the Genevan traveller and collector Gustave Revilliod in Egypt; context of creation not documented
MEG Inv. ETHAF 020410
DR Congo, South Sudan, Central African Republic. 19th century
Transferred to the MEG in 1944 from the Musée Ariana Collection; probably purchased by the Genevan traveller and collector Gustave Revilliod in Egypt; context of creation not documented
MEG Inv. ETHAF 020410
of the Suez Canal. He returned to Egypt in 1880 for a cruise he organized on the Nile as far as Aswan. It is highly probable that he purchased this throwing knife of Zande origin in the bazaars of Cairo or Asyut. Its sale in Egypt, far from the place it was made, calls to mind slave raids on the borders of Sudan and Central Africa. Throughout the 19th century, along the Nile, columns of prisoners served as reinforcements to the unstable armies of small sultanates and the Turco-Egyptian Empire. F. Morin/MEG