Wood length 38 1/2in (97.8cm) Provenance George Bennet, London Missionary Society, 1823 Jonathan Mankowitz Collection, London Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection, Honolulu Published Kaeppler, Adrienne, Polynesia - The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art, University of Hawaii Press, 2010, p. 317, fig. 387 According to Rhys Richards, 'Though widely called "paddles," these objects are not functional paddles. They are 'paddle shaped,' but their sizes are too extreme; their shafts are too weak, and they are thoroughly unsuitable for use as paddles. Consequently it has been assumed that they were emblems of rank or status, for ceremonial rather than functional use.' Richards continues (p. 145), 'There are good grounds for asserting however that few if any "paddles" were made and exported after 1842. Firstly, the population decline was extreme, particularly among the adults, and dead men made no paddles. By 1840 the total population on Tubuai had fallen to 250 and on Raivavae to 360. If half were children, and half the adult were female, then the pool of adult men who could have been potential carvers, was about 90 and 60 for the two islands respectively. Actual carvers would have been even fewer, particularly if as previously, carvers had been a select group. However, according the mission records, by then most of these men would have been Christians, whose devout moral advisers actively discouraged traditional arts.' (The Austral Islands, 2012, p. 141-145) Exquisitely carved with six dancing figures around the pommel, incised geometric decorations throughout the shaft with bands of X's and crescents with two concentric circular designs where it meets the paddle surface; the spade shape paddle surface with horizontal bands of X's and crescents, similar to the shaft; a ridge with chevron design on outer side, the inner side with a vertical row of circular motifs down the center; fine dark brown patina.