CLUB (KILA)

Henry Archibald Tufnell (1854-1898), Wimbledon, acquired by the late 19th century

Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, presented in 1899 by Henry Anson, executor of Tufnell's estate

Denver Art Museum (inv. no. 96-QM-EX), acquired from the above by exchange on July 22, 1948

Harry A. Franklin, Beverly Hills, acquired from the above by exchange in April, 1962

David Akin notes that kila clubs are "common in North Malaita [...where] the handles are plaited with orchid vine and geru dyed palm strips" (Akin, "Malaitan War Clubs", Pacific Arts Newsletter, No. 16, January 1983, p. 17). Deborah Waite attributes two similar examples to the neighboring Nggela (or Florida) Islands, noting that the nineteenth-century travellers to the Solomon Islands Henry Brougham and Herbert Meade both attributed them to the latter group (Waite and Conru, Solomon Islands Art, Milan, 2008, p. 123).

The present kila, which was collected during the 19th century, retains much of its beautiful and delicately woven orchid vine binding.