CLUB (KILA)

David Akin notes that kila clubs are "common in North Malaita [...where] the handles are plaited with orchid vine and geru dyed palm strips" (Akin, "Malaitan War Clubs", Pacific Arts Newsletter, No. 16, January 1983, p. 17). Deborah Waite attributes two similar examples to the neighboring Nggela (or Florida) Islands, noting that the nineteenth-century travellers to the Solomon Islands Henry Brougham and Herbert Meade both attributed them to the latter group (Waite and Conru, Solomon Islands Art, Milan, 2008, p. 123).

The present kila, which was collected during the 19th century, retains much of its beautiful and delicately woven orchid vine binding.