The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Dark-brown-black wood club shaped like a spade with a cylindrical handle twice the length of the spade. The spade shape is patterned with repeated fine triangles intersecting to make larger triangles and other geometric shapes. A cross cuts through these patterns. Tightly grouped horizontal lines extend up the handle, occasionally interrupted by rows of triangles. At the very edge of the handle runs vertical rows of serrated lines. The handle flares slightly at the end.

Club

1700s-1800s

Polynesia, Fiji Islands, 18th-19th Century

wood
Overall: 23.2 cm (9 1/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1990.71
Location: Not on view

Description

Fijian weapons are made of heavy, dense wood, ornamented with fine, chip-carved patterning. The paddle-like shape of this example is quite rare.
  • Turner, Evan H. "Acquisitions: 1990." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 2 (1991): 30-45. p. 44, no. 67, repr. p. 45.
  • {{cite web|title=Club|url=false|author=|year=1700s-1800s|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.71