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Overview
This is a whisk attributed to nineteenth-century Rurutu or Tubuai. Whisks were made in sacred and utilitarian forms and used in religious and secular contexts (Rose 1979: 207). The whisk handle features two small carved Janus figures with some fragments of braided fibre running along a spindle to where the coconut-fibre whisk would be attached.
Stylistic attributes
The attribution of the handle to the Austral Islands is based on the research of Roger Rose (1979), who surveyed 38 double-figured flywhisks and their histories. He proposes an Austral Islands origin for them, and identifies three main variants indicative of styles or schools of carving from specific islands within the group. He argues that the Janus whisks are stylistically distinct from those produced in the Society Islands (Rose 1979: 202). However, he acknowledges that their carved figures ‘belong to a general tradition of figural sculpture wherein certain artistic conventions are similar to the Austral and Society Islands, and to a lesser extent, the Cook Islands’ (Rose 1979: 207).
Acquisition history
This whisk is part of the Oldman Collection - a collection of Mäori and Pacific artefacts purchased in 1948 by the New Zealand government from the London dealer William Ockelford Oldman.
The Oldman (2004) collection catalogue records that this whisk was ‘Brought home by Capt. Lord Byron in H.M.S. Blonde. His annotation refers to Captain Lord George Ashton Byron (1789–1868) of the Royal Navy. In 1824, he sailed a mission to Hawai‘i with the Blonde to return the remains of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu (Byron et al. 18 6), who had both died of measles while visiting England. How Byron came by the whisk is a mystery. On leaving Hawai‘i, the Blonde sailed for Tahiti but was unable to make headway. Instead, the ship stopped briefly at Ma‘uke before sailing directly to Valparaíso, Chile.
The expedition did not visit Tahiti, or any of the Austral Islands en route. However, it is possible Byron picked up the whisk while on Ma‘uke. This island, now part of the Cook Islands, is relatively close to the Austral and Society Islands and inter-island communication in the region had been long established, albeit intermittently (Rollett 2002). Indeed, the journal of the voyage records that the crew met two native teachers on Ma‘uke who had been ‘qualified’ by the London Missionary Society based at Tahiti (Byron et al. 1826). They may have been the source of the whisk. Less likely is the possibility that Byron acquired the whisk earlier in the voyage from another source in Hawai‘i.
References
Byron, G.A., Bloxam, R.R. and Callcott, M. (1826). Voyage of H.M.S. Blonde to the Sandwich Islands, in the years 1824–1825. Captain the Right Hon. Lord Byron Commander. London: John Murray. 260pp.
Rollett, B.V. (2002). Voyaging and interaction in ancient East Polynesia. Asian Perspectives 41(2): 182–194.
Rose, R. (1979). On the origin and diversity of ‘Tahitian’ janiform flywhisks. Pp. 202–213. In: Mead, S.M. (ed.). Exploring the visual art of Oceania.Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai‘i
Press. 455pp.
Rose, R.G. (1993). Taumi gorgets from the Society Islands. Pp. 91–105. In: Dark, P.J.C. and Rose, R.G. (eds). Artistic heritage in a changing Pacific. Bathurst: Crawford House Press. 261pp.