Ceremonial adze with head and torso

Staffs, weapons, and tools serve as chiefly insignia. On ceremonial occasions, a Pende chief carried an adze over his shoulder. It was not an ordinary tool used to sculpt wood but an ornate version of the conventional model.(41)

This adze exemplifies the type. At the top of the handle there is a sculpted human head adorned with imported European brass tacks. Its face displays raised scarification marks on each cheek. Both the hairstyle, or skullcap as some authors refer to it, and scarification marks are found on Pende masks with visual references to both leadership and hunting-an important activity, especially if the chief killed a leopard or crocodile. A very long iron blade has been hammered into the head's mouth. At the back on the handle, a female bust carved in full relief is positioned upside down (see detail, below). When viewed in profile, the small skull-likehead appears to be an exaggerated depiction of the head at the top of the adze.

The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art, cat. 21, pp. 84-85

____________________
NOTES:

41. Sousberghe, Léon de. L’art Pende. Brussels: Académie royale de Belgique, 1958. pp. 135-137.