Wood, shell inlay, custom period base
Circa 1902
Length: 49½ in (125.7 cm); Height: 19¼ in (48.9 cm), not including base
Provenance: Michael Graham Stewart, Auckland, New Zealand
Model canoes of the Solomon Islands were produced at a high level of craft for presentation and diplomatic exchange during the early colonial period, when European naval vessels regularly called at island ports during survey and administrative voyages. HMS Dart, a Royal Navy schooner that had undertaken hydrographic surveys across the Australia Station since 1883, visited the Solomon Islands in June 1902 under the command of Lieutenant Frederick Claude Coote Pasco. The model was almost certainly produced in connection with that visit, placing its making within a documented moment of contact between the Royal Navy and the island communities of the western Pacific.
The hull form follows the distinctive high-prow profile of the Solomon Islands war canoe, inlaid across its surface with shell in a pattern of controlled geometric detail. The execution throughout reflects a maker working at the full extent of the tradition: the inlay is consistently placed, the hull form is cleanly resolved, and the scale is large enough to carry the full vocabulary of the full-size vessel. The custom period base suggests the model has been displayed and valued as an object of significance since its acquisition.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Wood, shell inlay, custom period base
Circa 1902
Length: 49½ in (125.7 cm); Height: 19¼ in (48.9 cm), not including base
Provenance: Michael Graham Stewart, Auckland, New Zealand
Model canoes of the Solomon Islands were produced at a high level of craft for presentation and diplomatic exchange during the early colonial period, when European naval vessels regularly called at island ports during survey and administrative voyages. HMS Dart, a Royal Navy schooner that had undertaken hydrographic surveys across the Australia Station since 1883, visited the Solomon Islands in June 1902 under the command of Lieutenant Frederick Claude Coote Pasco. The model was almost certainly produced in connection with that visit, placing its making within a documented moment of contact between the Royal Navy and the island communities of the western Pacific.
The hull form follows the distinctive high-prow profile of the Solomon Islands war canoe, inlaid across its surface with shell in a pattern of controlled geometric detail. The execution throughout reflects a maker working at the full extent of the tradition: the inlay is consistently placed, the hull form is cleanly resolved, and the scale is large enough to carry the full vocabulary of the full-size vessel. The custom period base suggests the model has been displayed and valued as an object of significance since its acquisition.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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