Ndengese Oshele, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dominique and François Rabier, Brussels
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1993

Pierre Loos (ed.), Arts primitifs / Kunst primitive / Kunst primitieve: III, 17/6/1993, Brussels, 1993, pp. 44-45
Roberto Ballarini, The Perfect Form: On the Track of African Tribal Currency, Milan, 2009, p. 13

For a closely related Ndengese oshele, perhaps by the same artist, in the collection of Waltraud and Udo Horstmann, Zug, see Bassani (2002: 171, no. 69).  In his discussion of the Horstmann oshele, Youmans in notes (in Bassani 2002: 170: "The three triangular shapes on this piece appear to melt at the tips, drawing the eye around the work in a circular motion.  The single extension at the bottom right of the object counterbalances the two at the top left, making this a successful abstract work of art.  Created in the shape of a throwing knife to be used as a currency, this artwork weds shape, form and function. [...] Currency based on throwing knives carried connotations of prestige.  A particularly beautiful blade might be worth many times more than an ordinary one.  At mid-century it was said that a fine piece of currency like the present example, called [oshele], might be worth one hundred times the value of the iron from whihc it was made."  The Rabier oshele is distinguished by its great age and signs of extended use: one of the blades was repaired after it broke, attesting to its importance within Ndengese civilization, transcending the monetary value of the raw material.