Although there is no documented provenance for this staff with concentric circle design, the motifs do suggest an origin amongst the Venda-speakers of southern Africa. The circles, reminiscent of the rippling water of a pool into which a stone has been thrown, is linked to Venda court arts from the north-eastern regions of South Africa. It is particularly associated with Lake Fundudzi, the ‘Lake of Creation’ situated between the towns of Thohoyandou and Louis Trichardt, in Limpopo Province where the VhaVenda have been settled for many centuries. Nettleton writes how the use of this motif, together with others such as chevrons, are signs for the powerful crocodile in the pool and the python that writhes around its perimeter. Both are symbols of chieftainship and power. The repeated use of the concentric circle design is evident on carved wooden doors used by VhaVenda chiefs and on divining dice used by diviners (mungome) from this region.

Continuing the circle symbolism within VhaVenda society, sacred drums owned and used by chiefs for rainmaking, to call the community together, in times of calamity and for the initiation ceremonies of young men and women, were hemispherical with a concentric circle design in the center of their tympanum. These are associated with political and spiritual power as well as myths of origin associated with the Ngoma Lungundu or the ‘Drum that is the Voice of God’ that should never touch the ground.

However, this extremely unusual example also has characteristics of the style of XiTsonga-speaking carvers who live within the same region.

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