Dance club "gugu" · Fidji Islands · ID: 3042473
not available anymore
Provenance
Douglas Barrett, London, Great BritainSize
L: 84,5 cm
L: 33.3 inch
Description
wood, brown patina, white pigment, shaft with oval cross-section, club head shaped like an axe blade, richly decorated with delicate incised ornaments, feather ornament, slightly dam., minor missing parts;
often incorrectly referred to as “lotus clubs”, the surface designs of these clubs are actually very stylized renderings of the flat butterfly fish, “gugu” (Chaetodontidae). Such clubs were used exclusively for dancing.
Comparing literature
Wardwell, Allen, Island Ancestors, Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, Fort Worth 1994, p. 172 f.