The knobkerrie, or club, is one of the most fundamental components of African material culture in south-east Africa. Bryant's observations about North Nguni knobkerries could be applied to knobkerries from the entire region:

'The fighting knob-kerries of the young men were manufactured of the hardest and heaviest woods procurable … These kerries were short sticks for clubbing or throwing, having a handle two feet or less in length, surmounted by a spherical knob from 2 to 3½ inches in diameter, the whole being nicely smoothened and polished with fat. A variety had the knob projecting from one side, the knob in this case being scooped out with shallow concavities at the top, front and bottom' (AT Bryant, The Zulu people, Pietermaritzburg, 1949, pp407-408).

Surprisingly, the aesthetic and symbolic significance of the knobkerrie has never been systematically researched and imaginatively considered. As the two groups of knobkerries in this catalogue attest, the skilled carvers who produced them were very conscious of the geometry and symmetry of the form.

In this knobkerrie the sphere is placed asymmetrically on the shaft and faceted to create an abstract form that has an anthropomorphic quality. The shafts of this group in some instances have raised elements, which accentuate the play on form, and the varying treatment of the top section of shaft, where it joins the sphere, also offers interesting variations in appearance.