Raoni Club

WAR CLUB

"RAONI'S WARRIOR CLUB"

Kayapo (Mebêngôkre), Xingu region, Brazilian Amazon

20th century

Carved wood, braided vegetable fibers, dyed ritual ligatures

Length: 112cm

A PRESENCE — BETWEEN AUTHORITY AND INCARNATION

With an immediate formal power, this Kayapo ceremonial club is distinguished by a triangular head with sharp and taut lines, extended by a handle entirely sheathed with a plant braid of remarkable density.

The radical sobriety of the form - almost minimal - focuses all the attention here on the correctness of proportions, the tension of the volumes and the quality of the material. Nothing is superfluous: the object is imposed by its presence.

The full braiding of the handle, long and technically demanding, goes beyond the simple functionality to inscribe the piece in a dimension of representation and status. Old ligatures, some of which are tinged with red, participate in this symbolic charge.

RAONI — A FIGURE, AN OBJECT

This club is reproduced in the reference work TRIBES – The First People (Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, Vilo)

The iconic leader of the Kayapo, Raoni embodies a living memory of the Xingu cultures. The object here exceeds its material condition to join an embodied dimension.

Origin

Jean-Pierre Dutilleux Collection

Constituted during field missions in the Amazon

Publication

Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, TRIBES – The First People, Vilo Editions

Condition

Good general state of conservation

Coherent old patina

Preserved old ligatures