Rarotonga or Atiu pole club, akatara, Cook Islands

Carved from the heart (taiki) of the toa tree (ironwood, Casuarina equisetifolia).

Henry Charles Stephens, M.P. [Member of the British Parliament], London, by 1879
By descent through the family
Christie's London, December 9, 1975, lot 42
Pinto Collection, Paris
Sotheby's London, June 21, 1979, lot 33
Private Collection, acquired at the above auction
Private Collection, United Kingdom

Henry Charles Stephens (ed.), Descriptive & Historical Catalogue of the Anthropological Collection formed by Henry Charles Stephens, Finchley, 1879 [original manuscript at the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, Norwich], no. 160
Charles W. Mack, Polynesian Art at Auction: 1965-1980, Northboro, 1982, p. 245, pl. 108, no. 1 (with partly incorrect provenance)

Very good condition overall for an object of this rare type and age; three tips of the crescents of the blade chipped and restored, minor hairline cracks, nicks and scratches, wear and tear from handling; exceptionally fine, lustrous dark brown patina.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A Magnificent Pole Club ('akatara) from Rarotonga or Atiu, Cook Islands

This fine pole-club is a tour de force of Polynesian wood carving. Casuarina wood is exceptionally hard, particularly the heartwood which was used to make these weapons. Taiki  is the Cook Islands word for the heartwood of this tree and significantly this term is also used for a "seasoned warrior" (S. Savage, 1962). Originally the 'akatara would have been fighting weapons but by the time that European contact was made their use had become largely ceremonial. They were objects of great prestige imbued with the mana (spiritual power) of their makers and of the warriors who owned them.

Only stone adzes were available to the old Cook Islands craftsmen and so the preparation of the rough form of the club was already a considerable feat. Then began the laborious process of shaping and polishing the wood, using finer stone tools, pieces of coral and a sharkskin rasp.

The beauty and superb finish of these weapons appealed to early visitors to the islands and most of the 'akatara now in museums and in private hands were collected during a relatively short period from the 1820's onward. Evangelists of the London Missionary Society arrived in the Cook Islands in 1821 and they destroyed the majority of "heathen idols" (Harding, 1994). Weapons on the other hand were often sent back to Britain as specimens of native workmanship and several were on display for many years in the LMS museum in Blomfield Street, Finsbury.

Traditionally the 'akatara clubs have been assigned to the island of Rarotonga and they are referred to in the oral histories of this island which go back many generations. The eye motif shoulder ornament resembles the eyes of Rarotonga figures and staff gods. Further evidence comes from a photograph, circa 1910, which shows Rarotonga warriors with 'akatara clubs. The well known Baxter print of the Rarotonga chief Te Po (1837) shows a rather different weapon; this may well be a simple misunderstanding on the part of the engraver who certainly never visited the Cook Islands.

In 1777 Captain Cook discovered the island of Atiu and one of his men noted that here "The clubs were about six feet long or more, made of hard black wood launce shap'd at the end but much broader, with the edge nicely scollop'd and the whole neatly polish'd". It therefore seems probable that the 'akatara  were used on both Rarotonga and Atiu. By the time, ca. 1910, that Stephen Savage took his photograph of Atiu warriors the clubs were of plain form. The island of Mangaia, the southernmost of the Cook group, also had pole-clubs of a distinctive shape (see Harding, 1997).

The present pole-club is an object of great rarity and importance, a precious relic of Polynesian wood carving at its finest.  Comparable examples exist in the British Museum (e.g. no. 7205 in Hooper 2006: 239), in the Oldman Collection (in Oldman 1943: pl. 31) and in the James Hooper collection (in Phelps 1976: pls. 68 and 77). Today very few wide bladed 'akatara remain in private hands and the appearance of this exceptional example provides a unique opportunity for collectors and museums.

Julian Harding
London, March 2010

Bibliography 

Harding, J.:  A Polynesian God and the Missionaries.  Tribal Arts, Vol. I, no. 4,  1994.
Harding, J.:  Sky Pebbles...... .   Tribal Arts,  Vol. IV, no. 3, 1997.
Savage, S:  Dictionary of the Maori Language of Rarotonga.  Wellington, 1962.
Te Rangi Hiroa (P.H. Buck):  Arts and Crafts of the Cook Islands.  Honolulu, 1944.