Buka Island, Solomon Islands
19th century
Wood
Height: 66¼ in (168.3 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Paddles from Buka Island in the northern Solomon Islands are among the most recognizable objects produced in the region, distinguished by the carved face that appears at the widest point of the blade. The face — rendered with inlaid shell or pigment eyes and a clearly articulated mouth — was not merely decorative but connected the object to the ancestral and spiritual framework within which canoe travel and maritime activity took place. Buka paddles circulated widely through early European collections, their distinctive form making them among the most collected objects from the Solomons in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The blade tapers symmetrically to points at both ends, the face positioned at the center of the widest register and oriented toward the user during paddling. The wood has developed a warm patina through age and sustained use, the surface carrying the depth of honest handling over a long period. The Auckland provenance places this piece within the New Zealand collecting context that formed around Pacific material during the twentieth century.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Buka Island, Solomon Islands
19th century
Wood
Height: 66¼ in (168.3 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Paddles from Buka Island in the northern Solomon Islands are among the most recognizable objects produced in the region, distinguished by the carved face that appears at the widest point of the blade. The face — rendered with inlaid shell or pigment eyes and a clearly articulated mouth — was not merely decorative but connected the object to the ancestral and spiritual framework within which canoe travel and maritime activity took place. Buka paddles circulated widely through early European collections, their distinctive form making them among the most collected objects from the Solomons in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The blade tapers symmetrically to points at both ends, the face positioned at the center of the widest register and oriented toward the user during paddling. The wood has developed a warm patina through age and sustained use, the surface carrying the depth of honest handling over a long period. The Auckland provenance places this piece within the New Zealand collecting context that formed around Pacific material during the twentieth century.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
