club
- Museum number
- Oc,LMS.90
- Description
-
Club or staff associated with the ceremonies that followed the death of an important person in Tahiti. It is made of light wood, broadening at the head, with shark teeth edging on one side. The teeth are bound with coconut fibre cord. The Registration slip illustration shows attached tufts of feathers (now missing)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 4 centimetres
-
Length: 170 centimetres (Measured as horizontal)
-
Width: 11 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
In Tupaia's illustration, made during Cook's first voyage, the figure of the Chief Mourner is shown holding a club like this one. Historical accounts by early European voyagers, such as Joseph Banks, describe the Chief Mourner rampaging through villages attacking people at random with a club like this one.
-
LMS slip notes:
Compare Webber's drawing of Tahitian Mourner. Cook's Voy.
611 a paeho used at the ceremony of the Heva
41) being a curved club armed with sharks teeth
Stuck-on label with bold black printed numerals 41
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1979 – 1980 15 Feb-29 Sept, London, BM, Museum of Mankind, Captain Cook in the South Seas
2015 9 July-19 Sept, London, SOAS Brunei Gallery, Missionaries and Idols in Polynesia
2021-2022 15 Oct-13 Mar, Venice, Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti, Power & Prestige: the art of clubs in Oceania
2022 8 Jun-25 Sep, Paris, Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Power & Prestige: the art of clubs in Oceania
- Acquisition date
- 1911
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc,LMS.90
- Additional IDs
-
CDMS number: Oc1911C27.90 (old CDMS no.)
-
Miscellaneous number: Oc1890,Loan (originally loaned to BM in 1890 by LMS)
