**Originally Listed At $400**

Oceania, Polynesia, possibly Samoa, ca. early to mid 20th century CE. A splendid and sizable hand-carved wood war club presenting a lengthy body with a columnar handle that flares at its base, a thick midsection, and a 10-sided head topped with a star-like relief. The head of this hefty bludgeon is intricately incised with 3 decorative bands, each comprised of 5 to 7 registers of abstract geometric motifs. All of these designs are filled with a white lime-based pigment, nicely complementing the weapon's smooth, caramel-hued surface. Size: 2.5" W x 34" H (6.4 cm x 86.4 cm)

Polynesian war clubs struck the European imagination deeply, with the first knowledge of these objects outside of Polynesia coming from Captain Cook's voyages. George Forster, who accompanied Cook on his second expedition, wrote in his 1773 "A Voyage Round the World," "the clubs of the people of this isle, were of an infinite variety of shapes, and many of them so ponderous that we could scarce manage them with one hand... the whole surface of the plain clubs was as highly polished, as if our best workmen had made them with the best instruments."

Provenance: ex-Stein collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA, acquired prior to 2010

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#163913

Some stable surface fissures. A few nicks, chips, and abrasions, commensurate with age and use. Losses to paint. Otherwise, very nice with great patina.