mere pounamu Length 14 3/4in (37.5cm) Provenance Christie's, London, 6 December 1995, Lot 6 Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection, Honolulu Published Kaeppler, Adrienne L., Polynesia - The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2010, fig. 492 According to Kaeppler (ibid, p. 348), "Greenstone mere were used as a short sword after a series of parries and counter-parries. As both a weapon and an insignia of rank, such mere became treasured heirlooms passed down from father to son and given personal names. Remnants of an early nineteenth-century handwritten label are attached that discuss the value placed on this hand club and note a price of 50 pounds sterling." Finely carved from rich greenstone nephrite jade, most likely without the use of metal tools, tapering from the circular handle pierced through for attachment to a thin rounded blade, the handle with a conical end with stepped pattern; collector's label adhered onto one side.
mere pounamu Length 14 3/4in (37.5cm) Provenance Christie's, London, 6 December 1995, Lot 6 Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection, Honolulu Published Kaeppler, Adrienne L., Polynesia - The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2010, fig. 492 According to Kaeppler (ibid, p. 348), "Greenstone mere were used as a short sword after a series of parries and counter-parries. As both a weapon and an insignia of rank, such mere became treasured heirlooms passed down from father to son and given personal names. Remnants of an early nineteenth-century handwritten label are attached that discuss the value placed on this hand club and note a price of 50 pounds sterling." Finely carved from rich greenstone nephrite jade, most likely without the use of metal tools, tapering from the circular handle pierced through for attachment to a thin rounded blade, the handle with a conical end with stepped pattern; collector's label adhered onto one side.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
