Curved oval-shaped wooden shield with a lightly incised symmetrical design on the front which has been painted with black, white and red pigments. At the centre of the wide end of the shield it has been decorated with a fish design. There are two bent cane handles on the reverse of the shield which are threaded through the front. One of the cane handles has a section of twisted plant fibre tied around one end. [CW [OPS move] 2/8/2016]

Collection type: Object
Description: Curved oval-shaped wooden shield with a lightly incised symmetrical design on the front which has been painted with black, white and red pigments. At the centre of the wide end of the shield it has been decorated with a fish design. There are two bent cane handles on the reverse of the shield which are threaded through the front. One of the cane handles has a section of twisted plant fibre tied around one end. [CW [OPS move] 2/8/2016]
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, Process Carved, Process Painted, Process Incised
Dimensions: Depth: max 129 mm, Length: max 801 mm, Width: max 334 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1893.68.4
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]
In August 2005 Harry Beran, author and specialist on the art of the Massim area, examined this shield and noted the lightly incised pattern and typical symmetrical design. Beran indicated that this style of painted shield from Massim is more common in museum collections than unpainted ones. Only the most important warriors had painted shields, so in daily life these objects were actually more unusual than the unpainted ones. In many examples, including this one, the paint looks undamaged and there are no signs of any collisions with spears, which raises the question of whether some painted shields were made specifically for sale to Europeans. [ZM 2/8/2005]
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