1893.68.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Painted wooden shield with a symmetrical design on the front. [ZM 1/8/2005]

Long description

The shield is of curved oval shape, narrower at the top, with a double cane grip on the back. It is painted red on the back, and on the front with curvilinear designs in red and black on a white ground. [LM 09/05/2007]

Geographical reference

Papua New Guinea

Oceania > Melanesia > Papua New Guinea

Milne Bay Province Kiriwina Goodenough District Trobriand Islands

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Stevens Auction Rooms

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1893

Date collected

By 1893

Acquisition information

Purchased: 25/07/1893

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Material Cane Plant, Process Carved, Process Painted

Dimensions

Length: max 760 mm, Width: max 330 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1893.68.1

Research and responses

The PRM collection of Trobriand war shields was apparently examined by Patrick Glass; see page 61 of ‘The Trobriand Code: An Interpretation of Trobriand War Shield Designs’, by Patrick Glass, Anthropos, Vol. LXXXI (1986), pp. 47-63. [JC 26 2 1997]

Trobriand Islands war shields bear intricate and complex painted designs. The designs are always similar – and appear to represent the same kind of thing – but no two shields are ever exactly the same. Traditionally, prior to a battle, the village magician would cast a spell over each shield by resting it on his knees, and speaking his spell into the decorated surface from centimetres away, empowering it with his breath. The result was such that the shield became impervious to spears. The design was seen to have magical power, which could be invoked. There has been a great amount of debate over the meaning of the decoration on Trobriand Islands shields. Some scholars have seen the design as representing a mulukuausi – a flying witch, the most fearful thing in Trobriands mythology – which would terrify and petrify the enemy. Others have seen the shields as depicting the copulation of a husband and wife – the most obscene insult in Trobriands thinking - as well as a number of mythologically-significant animal species. In the central cluster of motifs, hornbills and snakes are clearly discernible. Others have interpreted the designs as representing single human figures, and being derived from the shell-inlaid human figures depicted on high-status shields from the Solomon Islands to the east. In this interpretation, the three major ‘zones’ of the shield represent the figure’s head, throat and abdomen; magical power was understood to reside in the Belly by the Trobrianders, and it has been suggested that the design represents the path by which magical power manifests in the world. Warfare in the Trobriand Islands was pursued with long thrown spears up to 4m in length, wooden sword clubs (See the display in U30A), and shields such as these. Relevant Reading: Malinowski, B. (1920) War & Weapons Among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands. In: Man, Vol.20, pp.10-12. E.R. Leach (1954) A Trobriand Medusa? In: Man, Vol.54, 103-5. Guiart, J. (1963) The Arts of the South Pacific. London: Thames & Hudson. Newton, D. (1975) Massim: Art of the Massim Area. New York: Museum of Primitive Art. Malinowski, B. (1978) Argonauts of the Western Pacific. London: Routledge. Research Conducted for DCF Cutting Edge 2006/2007 [AM].

Search terms: Weapon, Shield