An Elegant Maori ‘Patu Paraoa’

Period: 1800-1900, Early 19th century

Medium: Whalebone

Dimension: 44 cm (17³/₈ inches)

Provenance: Ex Karim Grusenmeyer, Asian Works of Art, Belgium 2008
Ex Private collection

SEE: ‘The Maori Collections of the British Museum’ Dorota Czarkowska Starzecka, Roger Neich, Mick Prendergrast; plate 119 ill. 712, 714, 716, 722 and 724

Literature: Unlike other hand clubs elsewhere in the world used for bludgeoning downward blows, Maori ‘patu’ were designed for jabbing and thrusting movements, for quick fighting in which a split second was too important to waste in raising the weapon to strike a blow. The whalebone was cut from the pan-bone of a sperm whale with a sandstone saw. Grooves were then cut from the front. The back was then sawed away to take out the resulting slab. This was then formed into a club shape by chipping and sawing with stone tools. Each individual club was weighed and balanced to suit the hand and preference of the warrior for whom it was being made. Such clubs were used over many generations and became associated with the Maori who wielded them. These heirlooms were ‘Taonga Tuku Iho’ – treasures passed down from the ancestors.