O-37 MAORI GREENSTONE CLUB, PATU ONEWA
O-37 MAORI GREENSTONE CLUB, PATU ONEWA
New Zealand. 18th Century or earlier.
Provenance: Ex-collection Monique and Ismar Gosselin, France; ex-collection, Melbourne.
This patu is of drak radiant green basalt with lighter flecks. It has acquired a very worn and soft surface from several hundred years of use. The butt is simply grooved and the hole worn from long use where a flax chord attached to the warrior’s wrist. This is a superb example of a very early patu. There are several very small chips but this is expected on such old and well-used objects.
GREENSTONE in many world cultures is held in the highest esteem. In Oceania, the Maori consider greenstone to have both magical qualities and high status; hence they are used as symbols of power, weapons of war and body ornaments. In the Trobriand Islands, large axe heads invariably of dark green stone with lighter steaks, become bride price (not tools) and are given personal names. In the Wahgi Valley of Papua New Guinea, large green axe heads are fashioned into dispaly axes; the most imporatnt becoming wealth items used as bride price, (Meyer(1995)p.414, 415)
POA
30 x 6.5 x 3 cm
