Dagger
- Culture
- Abelam artist
- Date
- 20th century
- Material
- Cassowary bone
- Classification
- Arms & armor, bone & shell
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 106
- Dimensions
- 2 1/16 x 14 1/4 in. (5.3 x 36.2 cm)
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 1434:1983
NOTES
This bone dagger is engraved with motifs suggesting the realm of the ancestors. Such daggers are among the most important adornments worn by men of the Sepik River region. Fabricated from the bones of the cassowary bird, or more rarely of human bone, daggers were a prestigious yet dangerous object worn on the arm and tucked into a band of plaited fibers. Bone daggers could be exchanged or given as a sign of friendship.
Provenance
by 1974 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, USA [1]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [2]
Notes:
[1] This object was in the collection of Morton D. May when it arrived to the Museum in 1974 [1974.1577 loan agreement form, SLAM document files].
[2] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, USA [1]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [2]
Notes:
[1] This object was in the collection of Morton D. May when it arrived to the Museum in 1974 [1974.1577 loan agreement form, SLAM document files].
[2] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.