A Marquesan club is a weapon to lean on for physical and spiritual support. Its rounded top provided a saddle which the warrior could place under his armpit when at rest. In warfare, the top of the club is configured as a head that can wield quite a blow. On the head, eyes and faces mix together in high and low relief, and lend the sacred power and protection of ancestors to the club and to the warrior who carries it. After being carved, clubs were buried in taro fields so the soil could darken the wood and produce a deep color, with a final polish of coconut oil to add luster.
Wood
55 1/4 × 7 × 4 3/4in. (140.3 × 17.8 × 12.1cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
58.137
Provenance: Mathias Komor, New York, to SAM 1958, Eugene Fuller Collection
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Not currently on view
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
