Caroline Island Dance Paddle-Micronesian Art-Oceanic Art
Here is an excellent older Caroline Island dance paddle probably from Pohnpei. Good older Micronesian material is very hard to come by and I feel fortunate to have just acquired this great one from my most recent buying trip to Pennsylvania. It is a good size at 44 ¼” (112.3 cm)--this is an indicator of age as over the decades they tended to get smaller. The design is columns of fine cross-hatched rectangles offset from the vertical—infilled with white lime set against a black background. There are numerous holes around the edge of the blade where fiber and shell attachments would have once hung. The patina of the handle is dark and well-used. The piece originally comes from a Honolulu collection and then into the Stephen Meder Collection of Philadelphia. The dance paddle dates to the late 19th century.