Club (Knobkerrie) (late 1800s or early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Club (Knobkerrie) (late 1800s or early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Relatively short sticks historically used for hunting and fighting are customarily called knobkerries. A combination of Afrikaans and Shona words, the name refers to the characteristic spherical knob of wood (knop) or head atop a cylindrical shaft (kirri). The knobs on these were carved into a tight whorl and a compressed sphere with a central rib. Even though their basic shapes were derived from real weapons, many of these precious objects were rarely if ever used as such. Highly personal, they instead functioned as ceremonial display items or regalia, symbolizing the masculinity and prowess of their owner.

Object facts

• Title: Club (Knobkerrie)
• Date: late 1800s or early 1900s
• Culture: Southern Africa, South Africa, Northern Ngun-style or Zulu-style maker
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: Wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 66 cm (26 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2010.232

A detail from the museum

The term knobkerrie refers to a characteristic spherical knob of wood or head atop a cylindrical shaft.

Collection credit

Gift of Dori and Daniel Rootenberg, Jacaranda Tribal, New York

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ginzberg, Marc, and Lynton Gardiner. 2000. African Forms. 1st ed. Milano, Italy, New York: Skira ; Distributed in North America and Latin America by Abbeville Pub. Group, p. 203.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.