A Rare Amazonian Wooden War Club from Guiana
A Rare Amazonian Wooden War Club from Guiana decorated and incised on all
four sides with anthropomorphic and geometric designs
19th Century
Size : 46 cm long – 18 ins long
four sides with anthropomorphic and geometric designs
19th Century
Size : 46 cm long – 18 ins long
This distinctive form of carved hardwood block club is found nowhere else in Amazonia. Among the earliest objects to reach Europe in the 17th century from Guiana are 'four wooden clubs and five hammocks' that entered the Tradescant collection and are now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
In 1782 John Gabriel Stedman wrote about his experiences as a soldier in Dutch Surinam … 'I must not forget that every Indian carries a club, which they call apootoo, for their defence. These clubs are made from the heaviest wood in the forest; they are about 18 inches long, flat at both ends, and square, but heavier at one end than the other ... one blow with this club, in which is frequently fixed a sharp stone, scatters the brains … and on these, besides other hieroglyphic figures, they often carve the number of people they have slain in battle'.
In 1782 John Gabriel Stedman wrote about his experiences as a soldier in Dutch Surinam … 'I must not forget that every Indian carries a club, which they call apootoo, for their defence. These clubs are made from the heaviest wood in the forest; they are about 18 inches long, flat at both ends, and square, but heavier at one end than the other ... one blow with this club, in which is frequently fixed a sharp stone, scatters the brains … and on these, besides other hieroglyphic figures, they often carve the number of people they have slain in battle'.
Amazonian war clubs always required for stock - please contact with details
A Rare Amazonian Wooden War Club from Guiana
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