Fine Shield, Northwest Region Gulf of Tomini or Kulawi, South Sulawesi

Fine Shield, Northwest Region Gulf of Tomini or Kulawi, South Sulawesi
kanta
height 43 5/16in (110cm)

Cf. Benitez-Johannot, Purissima and Jean Paul Barbier, Shields: Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania, Prestel, 2000, fig. 60 (BMG3600)

According to Benitez-Johannot (ibid.), 'This shield is so narrow it is hard to imagine it being of any use in warding off arrows or deflecting spears. It might possibly have been employed in sword fights . . . more probable that the shield was indeed intended for dancing. It is made from a single piece of light-weight wood inlaid with triangular sections of bone and shells, and decorated with rows of "human hair" supposedly from the victims of the prestigious owner of the object. In fact, it seems as if hair has been replaced by animal fur--goat for the most part--in the majority of known examples of this type. The reverse side is not decorated. The elongated handle has been carved from the block.

The origin of this shield, of a type that was certainly no longer produced in the twentieth century, has proved difficult to pinpoint. Kaudern [Walter] notes it as 'Kulawi', the brothers Paul and Fritz Sarasin attribute it to the Topeba-to ethnic group, while Albert Grubauer places it among the Tobela who inhabit an area to the east of the Sa'dan Toraja.'