Collection record · Objects & craft
Ceremonial Axe (gano)
The collection record classifies this work as arms and armor. It is dated 1900s, by 1928. Recorded culture or place: Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Shona-style blacksmith-carver.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Ceremonial Axe (gano)
- Date
- 1900s, by 1928
- Culture / origin
- Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Shona-style blacksmith-carver
- Materials and technique
- Iron, wood, and metal
- Dimensions
- Overall: 15.8 cm (6 1/4 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1929.364
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This ceremonial axe (gano) showcases its maker’s skill in using different materials. The crescent-shaped blade was likely locally forged; braided wires and a Swiss pocket watch fragment on the handle were imported. Like the headrest nearby, gano were gendered female; a small headrest is carved at top. Too fine for battle, a man may have held it as a status or ancestral symbol during rituals or dancing. Though made for centuries, religious use of knives and axes waned due to early 20th-century Christianity and government laws. Rising independence-era Zimbabwean nationalism (1960s–70s) revived tradition-based religion and associated objects like the gano.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of the African Art Sponsors of Karamu House · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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