Artistic ceremonial adze

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Description

wood, coir, basalt, fish skin, handwritten inventory number ‘H.566’

Ceremonial adzes of this type were exclusively made on the southernmost island of the Cook Islands, Mangaia.

This artistically crafted example strikingly illustrates Steven Hooper’s statement that the axes from Mangaia “embody the highest craftsmanship in woodworking, binding techniques, and stoneworking” (Hooper, 2006, p. 229).

Adzes of this elaborate type were a form of idol and were possibly associated with the deity “Tane-mataariki” (the patron god of craftsmen). Stone blades had both a trade value and a practical function as tools and could also be used as shrines for gods. The making and binding of coconut cordage were ritual acts performed by specialized craftsmen.

The most authoritative historic description of ceremonial adzes from Mangaia in the Cook Islands is given by the English missionary William Wyatt Gill, who lived in Mangaia between 1852-1872: “The stone adzes were secured to their wooden hafts by means of fine sennit, itself esteemed divine. It was fabled that the peculiar way in which the natives of Mangaia fasten their axes was originally taught them by the gods" (W. Wyatt Gill, Jottings from the Pacific, London, 1885, p. 224).

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Comparing literature

Hooper, Steven, Pacific Encounters, Norwich 2006, p. 229, ill. 201

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Publications

Phelps,Steven, "Art and Artefacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas. The James Hooper Collection", London 1976 (object listed in the catalogue register as no. 566, but not illustrated)

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