This ceremonial object with its sumptuous, large and heavily fluted finial alerts us to its use as a symbol of power and a connection to the ancestral realm. This link is further amplified by the fact that the head of the club is hollowed-out to be a snuff container with a small stopper. Notwithstanding its symbolic function, this short-handled stick with heavy finial could deliver a fatal blow to the head. Shaped something like a ridged bulb, type of fruit or vegetable, the gadrooned finial bears some resemblance to the vertical support on a Tsonga headrest featured in The Art of Southeast Africa.

However, the staff in its entirety resembles those given to young Bantwana boys by their fathers during their initiation into manhood and which they were expected to keep for the rest of their lives. A similar example, said to be ‘Zulu,’ has a staff embellished with both a beaded collar and carved designs down its shaft. Given this diverse provenance, the bulbed motif may well be one that was popular across 19th- and early 20th-century southern Africa.

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