Shield, late 19th / early 20th century

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Description

wood, black paint, rattan, nassa snails, hair,

According to Barbier, these distinctly narrow shields were used for war dances that included show-fights with the sword, as can be seen in an old photograph from 1919/20.

The shield is made from a single piece of light wood and was originally inlaid with triangular sections of bone and nassa shells. The hair that decorates the shields is said to have been of human origin in earlier times, supposedly from the victims of the owner of the shield.

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Comparing literature

Barbier, Jean Paul & Purissima Benitez-Johannot, Shields, Munich, London, New York 2000, p. 157, ill. 60

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