Oceanic: Papua-New Guinea. Middle Ramu or Pora Pora Rivers. War Shield. Wood, pigment. Height: 34 ½ inches Width: 18 inches...

Description

Oceanic: Papua-New Guinea
Middle Ramu or Pora Pora Rivers
War Shield
Wood, pigment
Height: 34 ½ inches Width: 18 inches

The upper central wedge shape of this shield, as in a number of published examples, rises slightly above the arc of the upper edge. On this wedge the painted low relief design makes visual reference to a face. In both configuration and coloring used, the entire upper area resembles a shield collected on the Pora Pora River in the 1960s (Harry Beran and Barry Craig, eds., Shields of Melanesia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005, p. 104, fig.4.41. See also Heinz Kelm. Kunst vom Sepik III. Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde, 1968, ill. 405, collected 1912/13 at Angetyi on the Keram River; this shield is smaller: 74 cm in height.).
There is use wear resulting in surface abrasions and minor pigment loss. A knothole exists just below the center on the proper right side, 3 ½ inches from the edge.

Provenance:
Greg LaChapelle, Santa Fe
Gary Hendershott, Little Rock



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