Cassandra D'Cruz
Specialist, Head of Sale
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Lot 36
Maori Bludgeon, New Zealand
13 November 2018, 11:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$15,000 inc. premium
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Maori Bludgeon, New Zealand
patuki
height 11 5/8in (29.5cm)
Provenance
Kenneth A. Webster Collection, London, no. 688 ("Web Coll. 688" written in white paint on the handle)
William O. Oldman Collection, London
Wayne Heathcote
American Private Collection, acquired in 1994
Exquisitely carved in tear-drop form, the undecorated handle with a piercing for attachment of wrist cordage and the butt slightly flared; the beating surface richly decorated on one side with a series of interlocking scrolls, the other side with a series of curved crescent-forms in alternating patterns; rich, lustrous, glossy brown patina with wear at the suspension hole indicative of significant age and cultural use. Such an exceptional example would have not only been used in battle by the high-ranking male, but as an emblem of his prestige within the Maori community.
As noted by Terrance Barrow, Ph.D., "Bludgeons termed patuki differ from the flat hand-clubs (such as the wahaika) as they are true clubs used for delivering in crushing blows and not the slicing and thrusting attacks of flat patu. Patuki are found in old collections. [. . .] With the decline of warfare this weapon appears to have fallen into disfavour in the mid-19th century." (Maori Wood Sculpture of New Zealand, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Japan, 1969, p. 141)
height 11 5/8in (29.5cm)
Provenance
Kenneth A. Webster Collection, London, no. 688 ("Web Coll. 688" written in white paint on the handle)
William O. Oldman Collection, London
Wayne Heathcote
American Private Collection, acquired in 1994
Exquisitely carved in tear-drop form, the undecorated handle with a piercing for attachment of wrist cordage and the butt slightly flared; the beating surface richly decorated on one side with a series of interlocking scrolls, the other side with a series of curved crescent-forms in alternating patterns; rich, lustrous, glossy brown patina with wear at the suspension hole indicative of significant age and cultural use. Such an exceptional example would have not only been used in battle by the high-ranking male, but as an emblem of his prestige within the Maori community.
As noted by Terrance Barrow, Ph.D., "Bludgeons termed patuki differ from the flat hand-clubs (such as the wahaika) as they are true clubs used for delivering in crushing blows and not the slicing and thrusting attacks of flat patu. Patuki are found in old collections. [. . .] With the decline of warfare this weapon appears to have fallen into disfavour in the mid-19th century." (Maori Wood Sculpture of New Zealand, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Japan, 1969, p. 141)
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