ball headed club

ball headed club

ball headed club

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Introduction

Ball headed club with animal head motif, and engraved arrow, tipi, and serpent with a janus faced human head on shaft that could possibly be a dodem, Peter Jones Collection, Anishinaabe

Nation of Maker: Anishinaabe
Date Made or Date Range: 1840s to 1850s
Materials

wood, metal black glass bead

Techniques or Format

leaf shaped metal point inserted into centre of the ball

Motifs and Patterns

ball is held in the jaws of an animal whose many teeth are clearly shown, along the shaft are a diamond shape with concave sides, an arrow, and a trianlular tipi motif. a zig-zag line is carved at the top border of the shaft. A serpent with a split tail and a janus faced human head is carved on one side of the base of the shaft

Additional Context

In discussion we queried whether the serpent motif could be a dodem. Alan Corbiere explained that there was a fish dodems in the eastern great lakes with a split tails and others that also referred to splitting

Condition: good
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Style of club appears mid-19th century

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: E178378-0
GKS Reference Number: 26869
Approximate Place of Origin

43.0703, -80.1184