Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Nick Wardigo · 4th October 2006, 08:15 PM

Hello Vandoo,

The black-lacquered one is actually Laotian, according to the Barbier-Mueller book (the full title is, SHIELDS: AFRICA, SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BARBIER-MUELLER MUSEUM). To quote from page 136: "Such shields are often erroneously attributed to the 'Moi' of Vietnam."

The rattan shield is, I think, almost certainly Chinese. At least, I've seen similar shields attributed to China, and none of my research has uncovered a similar shield in Vietnam (the Barbier-Mueller book suggests that there were circular rattan shields in Vietnam, but there are no photos and no reference is made of the tiger-face decoration).

I'm attaching the photos of the Vietnamese shield from pages 132 and 133 of this book. I don't mean to reference this book so heavily, but this seems to be the best book in my possession on the subject of African and Asian shields.

4th October 2006, 08:15 PM	#3
Nick Wardigo Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Posts: 54	Hello Vandoo, The black-lacquered one is actually Laotian, according to the Barbier-Mueller book (the full title is, SHIELDS: AFRICA, SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BARBIER-MUELLER MUSEUM). To quote from page 136: "Such shields are often erroneously attributed to the 'Moi' of Vietnam." The rattan shield is, I think, almost certainly Chinese. At least, I've seen similar shields attributed to China, and none of my research has uncovered a similar shield in Vietnam (the Barbier-Mueller book suggests that there were circular rattan shields in Vietnam, but there are no photos and no reference is made of the tiger-face decoration). I'm attaching the photos of the Vietnamese shield from pages 132 and 133 of this book. I don't mean to reference this book so heavily, but this seems to be the best book in my possession on the subject of African and Asian shields.