A Benin Ceremonial Sword, Nigeria

the curved blade with openwork geometric design, the handle with antelope bone (tragelaphus scriptus) and a large loop at the end; fine metal patina.

André Schoeller, Paris
Merton D. Simpson, New York

Saint Etienne, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie, Armes Offensives et Défensives d'Afrique Noire, d'Océanie et d'Amerique du Nord, 1966
New York, New York University, Grey Art Gallery, Images of Power: Art of the Royal Court of Benin, January 23 - February 21, 1981

St. Etienne Musée d'Art et d'Industrie (ed.), Armes Offensives et Défensives d'Afrique Noire, d'Océanie et d'Amerique du Nord, 1966, p. 24, fig. 1(cover illustration), cat. 5
Flora Kaplan, Images of Power: Art of the Royal Court of Benin, New York, 1981, no. 12
Warren Robbins and Nancy Nooter, African Art in American Collections, Washington , D.C., 1989, p. 566, no. 1576

excellent condition overall; minimal corrosion on blade; minimal abrasion on front of leather around upper half of ring below handle; fine metal patina.
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