Ceremonial paddle

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Description

wood, dark brown patina, delicate chip-carved patterns cover the blade and shaft, the conical handle terminus encircled by a row of human figures, slightly dam., minor missing parts (rim of the blade), metal base;
such paddles are said to have been used in dances or on occasion of state affairs when one chief visited another. Paddles of this highly decorated kind were perhaps the most collected objects in the Pacific in the first half of 19th century. Well over one thousand exist in collections, and research has shown that they were made during a dynamic period of activity by Ra’ivavae carvers around 1820 -1840.

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Comparing literature

Hooper, Steven, Pacific Encounters, Art Divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860, Norwich 2006, p. 216, ill. 184

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