A 19th century Tongan coconut leaf-stalk club apa'apai. Warfare…
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A 19th century Tongan coconut leaf-stalk club apa'apai. Warfare was an essential aspect of Tongan societies and long clubs were among the favoured weapons. Made of very dense wood, toa (ironwood or casuarina equisetifolia), the club is long and flares out from a narrow cylindrical handle to a thick flattened diamond-shaped head. Two pierced holes in the handle allow a cord to be tied for hanging the club. When such clubs were made, they had almost no carved decoration on them. However, as the warrior grew successful in battle, new designs would be incised. This club being entirely covered with ornamentation suggests that the owner was a highly skilled warrior and therefore held a high status with an exalted mana, the Polynesian concept of power, prestige, and influence. The formal complexity of the carving indicates a labour-intensity of sharply faceted, delicate modelling chisel-work, enhanced by the fine dark-brown patina. The geometric decoration and miniature stylized figures relate to designs also used in tattooing and bark cloths, as all apply these motifs to also protect the bearer. This fighting club provides a vehicle for a patterned surface that both honours and shields, and is a superb example of prestigious Tongan arsenal. Provenance: from the collection of Keith St Cartmail. Length 113.5 cm, width 8.5 cm

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  • Incised - A record of a name, date or inscription, or a decoration scratched into a surface, usually of a glass or ceramic item with a blunt instrument to make a coarse indentation. Compare with engraving where the surface is cut with a sharp instrument such as a metal needle or rotating tool to achieve a fine indentation.
  • Casuarina - Casuarina, is also known as beefwood (because of its appearance) she-oak, swamp oak, river oak, forest oak and Botany Bay wood. It is a native Australian hardwood, red brown in colour with dark flecks.
  • Patination / Patina - In broad terms, patination refers to the exterior surface appearance of the timber, the effect of fading caused by exposure to sunlight and air over the course of a century or more, changing the piece to a soft, mellow colour.

    As patina is very difficult to replicate, it is one of the most important guides to determining the age of furniture.

    Patina is also the term applied to the bloom or film found on old bronzes due to oxidisation.

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