Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Originally misidentified as a “ceremonial paddle,” 59.56 was considered to be simply an object made for tourists: it was thought that the form was not traditional and that the wood was not the appropriate type for a paddle. It was therefore dismissed as a fake.

After being correctly identified as a short club of the kotiate type, it is clear that this is a very traditional form. Kotiate are short clubs made of wood, stone, or bone, used as thrusting weapons in close combat. Characterized by their figure-eight form, clubs of this type were among the earliest Māori weapons known in the West, having been collected by Captain Cook in the eighteenth century. However, because of a lack of pre-collection history concerning this club it is unclear if it was made for Māori use and later sold or if it was made for sale.