18th century
Height 23"
Provenance: Private English collection, purchased decades ago as Trobriand Islands.
Clubs carved from primarily of whalebone have been made by the Nootka and Makah people for at least 2000 years and are symbols of the whaling tradition that is central to Quileute, Makah and Nootka cultures. Activities for the preparation and consummation of warfare were highly ritualized and warriors belonged to special societies and observed particular protocols.
These type of weapons have long been in use on the southern Northwest Coast, in particular among the Makah and Nootka cultures of the region of Cape Flattery and the west coast of Vancouver Island. This club appears to be closely related in style to several other whlalebone examples collected by Captain James Cook in 1779 at Yuquot Village, Vancouver Island.
This club has a similar shape and decoration to those known to the Wakashan-speaking Makah and Nootka. The blade includes relief carvings of circles and trigons arranged vertically down the center of the blade. The handle, or pommel, is decorated in an elaborate sculpture of the head of a bird. Holes cut near the pommel originally held thongs of hide that were attached to the wrist of the wearer so that the club would not fall away.
War Clubs of this type are apparently the oldest weapons from the Northwest Coast. A similar archeological example has been dated to c.500 BC.
This example is possibly unique, being carved of native wood with a well used patina. Rare.
18th century
Height 23"
Provenance: Private English collection, purchased decades ago as Trobriand Islands.
Clubs carved from primarily of whalebone have been made by the Nootka and Makah people for at least 2000 years and are symbols of the whaling tradition that is central to Quileute, Makah and Nootka cultures. Activities for the preparation and consummation of warfare were highly ritualized and warriors belonged to special societies and observed particular protocols.
These type of weapons have long been in use on the southern Northwest Coast, in particular among the Makah and Nootka cultures of the region of Cape Flattery and the west coast of Vancouver Island. This club appears to be closely related in style to several other whlalebone examples collected by Captain James Cook in 1779 at Yuquot Village, Vancouver Island.
This club has a similar shape and decoration to those known to the Wakashan-speaking Makah and Nootka. The blade includes relief carvings of circles and trigons arranged vertically down the center of the blade. The handle, or pommel, is decorated in an elaborate sculpture of the head of a bird. Holes cut near the pommel originally held thongs of hide that were attached to the wrist of the wearer so that the club would not fall away.
War Clubs of this type are apparently the oldest weapons from the Northwest Coast. A similar archeological example has been dated to c.500 BC.
This example is possibly unique, being carved of native wood with a well used patina. Rare.
