Ethnographica: Austral Islands (French Polynesia) paddle, probably mid 19th century, the pommel (hand-carved using shark teeth) with eight stylised nio mango masks, some retaining two short 'horns' to forehead, over pierced openwork scallop and shark tooth frieze above intricately carved shaft with dog tooth and lozenge decoration, flanking a medial frieze of sunburst lozenges, to a fig-shaped oar or paddle, the reverse with further fine bands of x, lozenge, dog tooth and wave decoration flanking a carved central ridge, the face with plainer vertical bands of x and dog tooth decoration, the paddle head 18.5cm wide x 31.5cm high, 98.5cm long overall, 568g approx

Local private collection, North Somerset.
By repute - brought back from the Austral Islands by the grandfather of the current owner, who served in the Navy. It is thought that these paddles were mainly made for ceremonial dance purposes.

For an Austral Islands chieftain's staff (previously used as a curtain pole in a cottage in Frome, Somerset!) exhibiting six nio mango masks, sold in these rooms for £15,500, see 13th June 2024 sale, lot 189, where cited:

Literature: Mack, Charles W., 'Polynesian Art at Auction 1965-1980', 1982
Hall, Henry Usher, Woodcarvings of the Austral Islands [Penn Museum Journal]
Read, Sir C. H., “On the Origin and Sacred Character of Certain Ornaments of the South-Eastern Pacific” [Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 21, 1891-1892]