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Description: | Two old rectangular labels read E368 while a circular label on the butt reads 'G'. A modern label reads E368/4 CULT unknown Raivavae, Austral Islands Polynesia The paddle has a round shaft which flares with a rectangular pommel and a round pointed blade. The shaft of the paddle has been decorated with carved diagonal crosses, curved line and zigzags in separate rectangular panels. The face of the paddle is also decorated with alternating panels of zigzags and curves, with a central panel of sun motifs. The reverse face of the panel is covered in alternating zigzags, with a raised ridge running down the centre. The pommel consists of a rectangle of three large anthropomorphic heads with two smaller heads on the ends, two rows of scalloping underneath, then a layer of seven smaller heads with two still smaller on each end and another two rows of scalloping underneath. The heads have rows of diagonal crosses on the top and a sun motif on either side of the shaft.
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 : CEREMONY : NCOOK : MUS_2007_TEMP : : | 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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