TONGAN CLUB, TONGA ISLANDS

Wayne Heathcote, New York
Masco Corporation, Detroit
Sotheby's New York, May 17, 2002, lot 362
Todd Barlin, Sydney, acquired at the above auction
James Barzyk, Chicago, acquired from the above

The Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, September 24, 1994 - May 5, 1996; additional venues: 
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, February 2 - March 26, 1995
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 11 - August 6, 1995
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, March 9 - May 5, 1996

Allen Wardwell, Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, Detroit, 1995, p. 183, cat. 71b
Keith Saint Cartmail, The Art of Tonga, Honolulu, 1997, p. 131, cat. 89

Good condition for an object of this age and rare early type. Vertical hairline cracks throughout. Some minor chips to relief carving throughout. Integral loop at butt of club for attachment of fiber strap with old loss. Small nicks, scratches, and abrasions from age and handling. Fine 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.

Wardwell (1995: 180) notes: "As in other parts of Polynesia, warfare was an important element of Tongan culture, and long clubs were among the favored weapons... Some chiefs won their high positions 'with the use of the club on the battlefield' (Gifford 1929: 123)... Many clubs also served as insignia of rank."

St. Cartmail (1997: 131) illustrates the present club, calling it "a much rarer type of club [in] the form of a quatrefoil-section head made up of four serrated ridges." Mills (2009: 7-46) classifies this very rare form as part of his "'Akau Families J and K: Stellate and Polygonal 'Akau ", noting: "Gifford (1929: 207) recorded the name of an individual 'akau as Tu'i Tapavalu /'Eight-Sided Lord', as well as another club similarly titled Tu'i. Samwell recorded Tu'i, glossed 'Lord/King', in his short Tongan vocabulary of 1777, as a term meaning 'club' (Beaglehole 1988 [III]: 1045), which may simply reflect the artefact's exalted status or may have been a formal artefact class. If the latter, a tu'i must have been a type current in the 1770s and there are very few other types of that period for which the Tongan name is not already known. The formal complexity of the Stellate 'akau indicates a labour-intensity of sharply faceted, fine modelling chisel-work far beyond that of the other types, a trait widely taken to index high status.  Peculiarly, their closest formal resemblance is not to any other West Polynesian weapons but rather the 'mace gods' of Central Polynesia (see Barrow 1979; Hooper 2006: 226, 232-33)".

For other longitudinally-ridged stellate 'Akau cf. one previously in the James T. Hooper Collection (Phelps 1976: 172, cat. 735) and another drawn by Sara Stone in her watercolor sketchbook of the 1780s (see Kaeppler 1999: 30, fig 29).