2-723-435 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ball-Headed Club, late 1700s-early 1800s. This club carries one of the richest known records of images representing Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) clan (nindoodem) identities; clan relationships shaped native politics through the 1800s. 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. The ball at the striking end is held in a jaw-like form that likely refers to an animal’s muzzle; such imagery invoked a protector being that endowed the club’s owner with power.