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Description: | An old label reads 'E368/1' while a circular label on the base reads 'e'. CULT unknown Raivaivae, Austral Islands Polynesia The paddle has a round shaft which flares slightly at the pommel and narrows toward the pointed blade. The shaft of the paddle has been decorated with carved zigzags in alternate directions, producing a cross-hatching effect, with a single band of triangles at the centre point. The face of the paddle is also decorated with alternating zigzags and has two asymmetric panels of sun motifs, one of twenty motifs, the other of six. The reverse face of the panel is similarly covered in a cross-hatching pattern with two large sun motifs where the base of the paddle meets the shaft. The pommel consists of a circle of eight anthropomorphic heads with prominent eyes and a pattern of scored lines, with two rows of scalloping underneath the heads. Two of the heads have a sun motif on top while one has been marked with scoring lines and the base is decorated with concentric circles forming a larger sun motif.
Such paddles are usually thought to be post-contact articles made for the tourist market, however they may have originally been used as dance paddles, being too fragile for practical use.
The paddle has been included in the Robertson catalogue as 'William Hunter From Captain Cook', however Adrienne Kaeppler could not confirm that Cook was the collector. Its coating of black varnish suggests it was once in the Old Hunterian collection, in which case it may be one of the 'Canoe-Paddles' mentioned by Laskey in his 1813 account. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | JEN : CANOE PADDLE : NCOOK : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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