CARVING
Clubs, bowls and headrests
What we know
- Fijian carvers made war clubs in many named shapes, each suited to a different use.
- Kava bowls (tanoa) and headrests were carved from hardwoods such as vesi.
- Many carved objects taken from Fiji in the 1800s are now in museum collections around the world.
Pictures in this chapter
A Fijian war club (possibly ceremonial) in the stores of Bedford Museum. (2010)
Edward Gennys Fanshawe, Clubs from Feejee (Fiji) and Navigators' (Islands, (Samoa)) (1849)
Clubs, Fiji Islands, wood - Pacific collection - Peabody Museum, Harvard University (2012)
Club ( Vunikau Vulibuli Vonotabua or Dromu Vonotabua ), early 19th century, Fiji Culture, wood, whale ivory, 30 1/2 in. (2013)
Fijian War Club in Museum of Methodism (1899)
Club totokia, Fiji, 19th century (2020)
Fijian club, tokokia, from Fiji, 19th century CE. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (2015)
War clubs from Fiji at Museu Nacional, Quinta da boa vista 159 (2009)
Fijian headrest, wood — Metropolitan Museum of Art
Headrest with bamboo bar, Fiji - Otago Museum - Dunedin, NZ (2024)
Sources
More in Living craft
Tell the museum something
A memory, a correction, or a question. Nothing you send appears on the site. It goes to the museum’s own queue, a person reads it, and they decide. If you teach, know this place, or remember it, your correction is worth more than a compliment.
This chapter’s text is awaiting cultural and historical review. Pictures keep the credit and licence of the collection that holds them.