ETHOC 041765

massue totokia

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041765
Totokia club
Fiji Islands
Wood. H 87 cm
Late 19th - early 20th century
Gift of the painter Émile Chambon in 1981
MEG Inv. ETHOC 041765
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This type of club, a ball bristling with prickles shaped like a pandanus fruit, was used in close combat. The point was used to finish off an enemy on the ground by piercing his skull. The Europeans called it a “pineapple” club because it looks like the fruit but it was produced well before the pineapple was introduced to the Fiji Islands.

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Registres d'inventaires historiques

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Inventaire original MEG. Registres tapuscrits, volumes 19 à 59
Registres_tapuscrits/41765.pdf

 

Western Polynesia

About 1000 BC, experienced and intrepid mariners travelled 700 marine miles from the main Melanesian islands to colonise Western Polynesia, a cultural area made up of several archipelagos: Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, American Samoa, Niue, Wallis and Futuna. Intense cultural exchange followed, particularly between Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, which led to certain cultural similarities.

Men's arts and women's arts

Many weapons from this region are now in collections all over the world. They could be used for attack or defence, but they also incarnated the prestige of the warriors they belonged to. They were used as emblems of power for the chiefs whose reputation depended entirely on prowess in battle and territorial conquests.

But creativity is not a male preserve. In the same region, the women made two types of objects for everyday use and for exchange: pottery, solely in Fiji, and tapa, a marvellous bark cloth.

Bibliograpy

  • Fuerst, René. 1994. Bois sculptés des mers du sud. Ivrea (Italie) : Priuli & Verlucca, Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, Pages 20 et 28
  • Phelps, Stephen. 1976. Art and artefacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas : the James Hooper collection. London Hutchinson : Hutchinson, Pages 181, 200 et 203, MEG Carl-Vogt, ME 1152
  • Rocchi, Carla Collab.. [1971]. Arte dell'Oceania : [mostra] / Museo preistorico etnografico "L. Pigorini" ; [catalogo a cura di Carla Rocchi]. Roma] : De Luca, Planche 339, MEG Carl-Vogt, OC 602

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