Superb Old Tongan Islands Polynesian War Club 19th Century

A Superb Old Tongan Island  War Club Polynesian dating from the 19th Century

Tongan War Clubs are some of the most beautifully carved objects from Polynesia. They were objects of great prestige and held Mana or spiritual power that was passed on through generations of the Chiefly Club’s owners

The fine old club called Pakipaki or “Coconut stalk”, the groups of stacked horizontal ridges increase in number as they ascend the length of the club, as if building momentum in both number and power to culminate in the lethal striking face at the top.

Clubs in Tonga were historically to be found in a broad range of cultural contexts, from warfare to sport, dance, religion, and the complex everyday use of the chiefly class. Clubs were significant artifacts in historical Tonga.

The clubs were shaped with a stone adze blade which was lashed to a wooden handle.  After the club was made, it was smoothed with a rasp made from sharkskin.  The carved decoration was probably done with a special chiselling tool consisting of a shark’s tooth lashed to a wooden handle.

Originally, these clubs were used in single combat during the wars between Tongan chiefs. Before Christianisation, in Tonga as in Fiji, there were plenty of occasions to shed blood: among many other reasons for war, one can mention personal quarrels, the greed for territory or women, an insult, the violation of a taboo or the irrepressible desire of revenge15. The aim was to kill the opponent with several blows on his head: the higher the death toll of the weapon, the more mana it gathered. The club thus linked the chiefs with gods and ancestors.

Provenance:  The Todd Barlin Collection of Polynesian & New Guinea Oceanic Art

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