Rare war shield

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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.

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Comparing literature

Zirngibl, Manfred A. & Dieter Plaschke, Afrikanische Schilde, München 1992, p. 42, ill. 22

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