Ogboni Ceremonial Knife With Hieratic Figure – Yoruba, Nigeria, Early 20th Century

Ceremonial Ogboni Knife – Nigeria, Yoruba People, Early 20th Century Ancient patinated bronze, symbolic engravings, stylized anthropomorphic figure representing an African man.

Sculpted with a solemnity bordering on liturgical, this ceremonial knife embodies the spiritual and judicial power of the Ogboni society, guardians of ancestral law among the Yoruba. Its handle, finely modeled in the form of a hieratic figure with crossed arms, evokes the posture of wisdom and ritual silence — essential attributes of the initiated.

The broad, curved blade is engraved with geometric motifs and stylized crosses — signs of cosmic balance and the duality between the visible and the invisible. The metal, aged by time, reveals a texture almost organic, as if the object had absorbed the stories and prayers of generations past.

Used in secret ceremonies, this knife is not a weapon but a talisman of justice, a symbol of moral authority and the sacred bond between the living and the ancestors. Its presence in a collection reflects a discerning taste for African ritual arts and a sensitivity to forms where the spiritual transcends the object.

Weight: approx. 1 kgDimensions: Height 47 cm, Width 10 cm, Depth 4 cm