Rare war shield · Kenya / Uganda · ID: 3046671
sold
EUR 4,500
Provenance
British CollectionSize
H: 98 cm
H: 38.6 inch
Description
hide/leather, wood, pigments,
A comparable shield located in the area west of Mount Kenya, published by Zirngibl (1992), p. 42, ill. 22. Another comparable shield illustrated in AHDRC (0134694) with the assignment Uganda/ Kenya.
An old watercolour by William Downing Webster (1863-1913) shows leather shields with very similar ornamental decoration. Here they were located to Uganda.
All three shields show the same design: the carrying pole, which is sewn to the shield body in the middle axis in a double vertical line by leather strips and the edge reinforcement by solid wooden hoops.
These features are also shown by the shields of the Masai in Kenya.
Comparing literature
Zirngibl, Manfred A. & Dieter Plaschke, Afrikanische Schilde, München 1992, p. 42, ill. 22