Mid-19th century
Wood
Height: 28¼ in (71.8 cm)
Provenance: Peter Adler, London
The bird-head club, known in New Caledonia as the porowa ra maru, was among the most prestigious objects associated with chiefly rank, produced for and owned by men of standing within Kanak society. Clubs of this type functioned as symbols of authority and circulated as ceremonial gifts between high-ranking individuals, their value tied to their form rather than their utility as weapons. The extreme delicacy of the projecting beak makes combat use implausible, and the consensus among scholars is that these were primarily ceremonial objects.
The head is carved in the form of a stylized bird, the long tapering beak extending forward from a smoothly resolved cranial mass. Peter Adler was among the most respected dealers in tribal and ethnographic art working in London during the latter decades of the twentieth century, and objects from his inventory carry a provenance of considered selection. The handle tapers cleanly to a small foot, the wood darkened throughout to a deep warm tone consistent with age.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Mid-19th century
Wood
Height: 28¼ in (71.8 cm)
Provenance: Peter Adler, London
The bird-head club, known in New Caledonia as the porowa ra maru, was among the most prestigious objects associated with chiefly rank, produced for and owned by men of standing within Kanak society. Clubs of this type functioned as symbols of authority and circulated as ceremonial gifts between high-ranking individuals, their value tied to their form rather than their utility as weapons. The extreme delicacy of the projecting beak makes combat use implausible, and the consensus among scholars is that these were primarily ceremonial objects.
The head is carved in the form of a stylized bird, the long tapering beak extending forward from a smoothly resolved cranial mass. Peter Adler was among the most respected dealers in tribal and ethnographic art working in London during the latter decades of the twentieth century, and objects from his inventory carry a provenance of considered selection. The handle tapers cleanly to a small foot, the wood darkened throughout to a deep warm tone consistent with age.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
