Asmat Cassowary Bone Dagger (Pi Pisuwe) bangles flowing mane with a prominent

flowing mane with a prominent forelock

The piece features a lustrous sancai glaze

Zululand and the Zulus: their history

or a woven hair net—while women wore grass skirts (sili) before marriage and fibre-coil or seed-strand skirts (yokal) afterward

Leeuwarden

Asmat Cassowary Bone Dagger (Pi Pisuwe) bangles flowing mane with a prominentAsmat people, early to mid 20th century, Irian Jaya (Papua), Indonesia A superb early cassowary bone dagger. Daggers of this type are known as pi pisuwe, while those carved from human femur were reserved for the most sacred and high status contexts. Although carried during displays of warfare, bone daggers were principally used in ritual killings, initiations, and ceremonial attire, symbolising courage, prestige and ancestral power. The Asmat inhabit