Ceremonial Adze
| Culture | Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Title | Ceremonial Adze |
| Date | Early 19th century |
| Medium | Wood, basalt, fiber, and and shark skin |
| Dimensions | Object: 33 × 12 × 2 1/2 in. (83.8 × 30.5 × 6.4 cm) Overall: 33 × 12 × 2 1/2 in. (83.8 × 30.5 × 6.4 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 74.43.2 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
Adze with a long carved handle and a stone blade. The connection between the handle and blade is wrapped in finely braided sennit (fiber).
The extraordinarily fine lashing and elaborated handle identify this as a ceremonial adze that probably represented the deity Tane-mata-ariki (Tane-of-royal-face). Adzes such as this demonstrate the work of three craft specialties: woodcarving, stonecarving, and cordage work, all of which also were considered ritual activities. Coir cordage (commonly called sennit), made from coconut fiber, was used for binding and lashing throughout Polynesia. The motifs on the wooden handle represent stylized human figures. After the 1820s, when many Cook Islanders converted to Christianity, craftsmen began making adzes with larger and more elaborate shafts, which were sold as souvenirs.
1974, Indiana University Art Museum purchase from Robin Symes Limited, London, England
Unidentified date, Robin Symes Limited acquires [1]
Unidentified dates, unidentified owner(s), possibly in Cook Islands and/or other places [2]
Notes
[1] We do not yet know when or how Robin Symes acquired this artwork as he did not share any further provenance information with the museum.
[2] We do not yet know how many changes in ownership transpired between when this artwork was first made and owned to when Robin Symes acquired it. This absence of documentation on ownership history within the cultures where the artworks were made and used is part of a larger history of collecting practices that did not record prior ownership among communities of origin.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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Cite this page
"Ceremonial Adze | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=74.43.2