id:			155915
accession number:	1991.21
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.21
updated:		2022-10-29 15:53:31.045000

Ball-Headed War Club, late 1700s–early 1800s. Native North America, Northeastern Woodlands, Great Lakes, Anishinaabe. Wood (maple?); overall: 58.6 x 7.8 x 13.1 cm (23 1/16 x 3 1/16 x 5 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1991.21

title:				Ball-Headed War Club
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			late 1700s–early 1800s
creation date earliest:		1750
creation date latest:		1850
current location:		231 Native North American
creditline:			Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Native North America, Northeastern Woodlands, Great Lakes, Anishinaabe
technique:	wood (maple?)
department:	Art of the Americas
collection:	AA - Native North America
type:		Implements
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 58.6 x 7.8 x 13.1 cm (23 1/16 x 3 1/16 x 5 3/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Richard Pohrt; reportedly from a collection in Kitchener, Ontario
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 


digital description: 


wall description: 
The ball at the striking end of this club is clenched in an abstract, jawlike form that likely refers to a protector animal who endowed the owner with power. Incised on the shaft is a rich record of <em>doodemag </em>(singular, <em>doodem,</em> “totem”)—animals representing other-than-human progenitors from which Anishinaabe peoples trace their descent. (The Anishinaabeg, a group of related Great Lakes nations, include the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and others.) Included is an antlered creature, perhaps a caribou, along with mammals, birds, and powerful spirit beings: the thunderbird, its wings outstretched, and perhaps the long-tailed underwater panther. When this example was made, clubs had become symbols of status and earlier ways of life, having been replaced as favored weapons by metal tomahawks and European firearms. Today, clubs are part of powwow regalia.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: P. 342
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.21/1991.21_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.21/1991.21_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.21/1991.21_full.tif