Time for Papua

[Pendita65]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Doesn't work for me! The site doesn't work really, there are a few with pics but not the ones Martin has shown.

Hi Detlef,
this is what i found on the website about this shield:

Culture : Biak

Asal : Cenderawasih-baai (prov. Papua) / Indonesië / Papua (Indonesië) / Biak (eiland) / Zuidoost-Azië: Insulair / Biak Numfor (regentschap) / Papua (provincie) / Schouten-eilanden (Papua)
vroeg 20e eeuw

169 × 42 × 15cm

Long rectangular plank made of light brown wood. In the center is a knob approximately 12 cm high, shaped like a cone compressed lengthwise. The nearly oval base measures about 14 cm along its length and 12.5 cm across its width at its widest points. Both above and below the knob, the shield is fitted with zigzag-shaped woven bands that run all the way around. These bands, made of split cane, divide the surface into nine roughly equal sections. The bands are connected by cords of finely woven rattan strips, which run lengthwise along the front and back, close to the sides and the center. The knob is hollowed out on the reverse side to serve as a handle. Both above and below the knob are black curling and hook-shaped motifs.

In Cenderawasih Bay, shields were rarely used, and only occasionally for protection against arrows. On the island of Biak, however, they were indeed used in combat. This contrasts with shields from the island of Roon, where they served as protection in a game in which players threw the husks of the cempedak (Artocarpus polyphema) at one another.


Nomor inventaris : RV-1971-1490

Materials: wood; cane (split); rattan (split)

References : De Clercq, F.S.A. en J.D.E. Schmeltz: Ethnographische beschrijving van de west- en noordkust van Nederlandsch Nieuw- Guinea (Leiden:P.W.M. Trap, 1893) p.146490

Materials: wood; cane (split); rattan (split)

Reference: De Clercq, F.S.A. and J.D.E. Schmeltz, Ethnographic Description of the West and North Coast of Dutch New Guinea (Leiden: P.W.M. Trap, 1893), p. 146



shield no. 2

Culture: Geelvink Bay cultures

Origin: Cenderawasih Bay / Southeast Asia: Insular / Indonesia / Papua (Indonesia) / Papua (Indonesia): regional
1875–1900

Dimensions: 75 × 15 × 7 cm

The curved, hourglass-shaped small shield (katua) from the northwestern part of Papua was adopted from the Moluccas, but the ancestor figure along the upper edge is unmistakably Papuan. The seated ancestor, depicted with a flared headdress of cassowary feathers and eyes made of glass beads, is turned protectively toward the shield bearer, one of his descendants.

By the end of the nineteenth century, warfare in this region had already been eradicated, and these parrying shields were transformed into ritual dance shields. Observers from that period report that on the small island of Roon, in the western part of the bay, such shields were playfully used in mock battles, in which opposing sides threw hard fruit shells at one another.

Source: David van Duuren, The Art of Defense: Shields from the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 2001, p. 54

Inventory number: TM-2736-1

Materials: glass; wood; carving; feather; paint

Publications:
Duuren, D. van, The Art of Defense: Shields from the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 2001, pp. 54–55

Exhibitions:
Abstracte schilden / rkunst, KIT Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, 2001–2002

This is all i could find detlef about the shields you where refering too,

Regards, Martin

And yes first thing i thought when i saw the salawaku
Moluccan influence..