Buka Paddle

Date19th Century

Mediumwood, paint

Dimensions7 3/4 × 61 3/8 in. (19.7 × 155.9 cm)

Object number00.200.467

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionPainted and carved buka paddle with rounded teardrop shaped paddle set within a plain round shaft. Has a tree-shaped motif carved in low relief on one side of paddlehead, with some painted decoration in red and black. Opposite side is plain, with just slight accents of paint and single raised ridge down the center.
Used as both weapons and in ceremonies, decorated paddles made on Buka Island in the Solomon Island group were a popular souvenir collected by whalemen. The paddles are decorated with low relief carvings of anthropomorphic figures called kokorra that may represent spirits or ancestral figures. It has been reported that whalemen may have used these types of paddles to maneuver whaleboats close to whales although the fine condition of the paint and caving on most of the Buka paddles in the collection suggest that they were collected primarily as souvenirs.

On View

Not on view