Skip to main content
Collections Menu
SAM'S collection
Spear (Eremet)
Spear (Eremet)

Spear (Eremet)

Label Text"Women made the headdresses but it is the men's work to collect the ostrich feathers...According to Maasai people, every man must own a spear from thirteen years of age. Warriors are recommended to carry spears on a daily basis while boys are allowed to carry theirs when herding cattle only...Both the spear and shield are things that I would like to own for the rest of my life. The [shield's] pigment painting is based on a section, clan, and sometimes region. You have to hold it so a lion can land on it. Then you have to slide the lion over your head, and sometimes the lion weighs about 400 pounds. Do that a few times and you can confuse him."
Object number2000.1
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]).
Credit LineGeneral Acquisition Fund
Dimensions1 1/2 x 1 1/8 x 64 1/4 in. (3.8 x 2.9 x 163.2 cm)
MediumWood, metal, and plastic
Photo: Paul Macapia
Object number: 56.79
late 19th/early 20th century
Object number: 2003.69
Kris with sheath
Object number: 61.120
Cap for butt-end of spear haft
Chinese
481 B.C.-221 B.C.
Object number: 64.28
Chinese
12th-10th century B.C.
Object number: 50.197
Chinese
12th-10th century BC
Object number: 50.198
Chinese
8th-3rd century B.C.
Object number: 46.259
Spear head
Chinese
ca. 5th century B.C.
Object number: 94.75.1