An Unusual ‘Kanak’ Hardwood War Club
An Unusual ‘Kanak’ Hardwood War Club
Period 19th century
Medium Wood
Dimension 63 cm (24³/₄ inches)
Fine dark glossy patina from use, a lighter band where a now lost ‘binding’ would have acted also as a ‘wrist thong’
Wood
New Caledonian, Kanak
Early 19th Century
SIZE: 75cm long - 29½ ins long
Period: 19th century
Medium: Wood
Dimension: 63 cm (24³/₄ inches)
Provenance: Ex Private collection, Reading, Berkshire, England
Ex English Art Market
Ex Private collection
Literature: During the 19th century the Islanders of the New Hebrides suffered extreme abuse at the hands of whalers and other traders and they became known for their hostility. Their most famous victim was the Reverend John Williams, a Welsh Methodist missionary, ‘The Martyr of Erromanga’ who was killed in 1839, and ever after commemorated in a ‘Baxter’ print.
Despite this, although inter-tribal warfare was frequent on the Islands it took the form of ambushes and local skirmishes and there were few fatalities. A carved wood club such as this was the most favoured weapon.
Finch & Co
Antiquities, ethnographica, natural history, sculpture and works of art
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