Herding camels and traveling long distances, the Turkana of northern Kenya make use of every ornament they wear. This wrist knife is razor-sharp and serves as jewelry and a weapon as well, used in fights and in wrestling contests. It is fabricated out of iron and then encased in leather to protect the edge from becoming dull and the wearer from injury. When collecting it in Kenya, Katherine White wrote, "I bought two razor bracelets, one with copper beads, the other ordinary but perfectly real."
Aluminum and leather
Diam.: 5 1/4 in.
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.1134
Not currently on view
Resources
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, African Panoplies: Art for Rulers, Traders, Hunters, and Priests, Apr. 21 - Aug. 14, 1988.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Untold Story, November 14, 2003 - November 14, 2004
Published ReferencesBurt, Eugene C., East African Art in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1985, no. 4, p. 11
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
