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Shield, Choja or Gobén, 19th–early 20th century
Wood, pigment
101 x 42 x 5 cm (39 3/4 x 16 9/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
The Marcia and John Friede Collection, a Promised Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco L05.1.73

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Alain Schoffel Collection, Tours, France." (Catalog #513, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 173.) EXHIBITIONS: 1992-93 - Musée Dapper, Paris, 1992-93, "Vision d'Océanie." PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "This shield was carved with nonmetal tools: stone and perhaps also animal teeth and shell. Nothing is known about the designs but, if one can be guided by the images on Asmat shields, they may represent stylized human bodies, perhaps merging with striking parts of animals, possibly bat wings (which the Asmat use as headhunting symbols), all executed in a particularly beautiful manner. Contrary to our western aesthetic inclination and what we may be accustomed to with regard to shields from other parts of New Guinea, such Awyu shields were probably carried with the tapering end pointing downward; see the field photograph by L.J.A. Schoonheyt (1936) of a Mappi man (the Mappi are northern neighbors of the Awyu) holding a comparable small and somewhat leaf-shaped shield, published in Barbier, 2000, fig. 95; see also Heijnes, 1959: 12 and cover for a similar example. For Awyu shields with designs similar to those on the shield presented here, see Sneekes, 1991: 88. The latter photo shows a man holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right hand in an attacking gesture. That shield is longer than the present example (it has one more large curvilinear motif), and more rectangular and less oval in shape, but the widest end is at the top. For a southern Awyu shield with comparable curvilinear designs but rendered in a more angular manner (published upside down unfortunately), see Kooijman, 1956, fig. 14." (Catalog #513, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 173.) 1992 - Bounoure, 1992: 99, left. 1981 - Schoffel, 1981, no. 98.

Related Keywords
Gob*n or Choja Shield Francisco San Museums Arts Fine Gift Promised 173 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art Guinea New 513 Catalog France Tours Schoffel Alain people Auyu Awyu Oceania Papua West Indonesia object Ritual pigment Wood 0709200406050434 A360988 L05.1.73 AOA