Time for Papua
 

Hi fellow enthousiasts of Ethnographica,

There is a beautiful exhibition in Wereld Museum
Leiden.

Called Time for Papua

I took some pictures that I wanted to share with you.

Regards, Martin

Ooh, nice, that's just down the road for me. Will stop by sometime in the next couple of weeks.

A difficult area of art market. I have had some very good experiences with international Papuan art dealers but l no longer trust there views unless you have something thet would like to have. Your pieces are always questioned but their pieces are alway the right.

I guess it is with a lot of ethnographica, these pieces are from the World Museum and most of it, comes from the times it was still a colony of Holland, and many pieces where from late 19th century and early 20th century.

Hi Martin,

Thank you for sharing! So the exhibition is regarding West Papua only?
Do you have any information from where the shields in the attached picture are from? Especially the big one on the left? I would like to know the exact origin and where the salawaku was collected? The third from the left will be from the Galvinck Bay and the one on the complete right is Asmat I guess. Any information is given?

Regards,
Detlef

The website is frustratingly refusing to show me any images right now, but you should be able to find the shields here by searching for "schild", and then in the left hand menu clicking "Nu te zien", and then below that checking "Tijd voor Papua".

Doesn't work for me! :( The site doesn't work really, there are a few with pics but not the ones Martin has shown.

Tip; you can visit as well the former "Tropenmuseum" in A'dam as they presently have a excellent exhibition on the Dutch colonial history, both the East and West

https://amsterdam.wereldmuseum.nl/en...on/exhibitions

Hi Detlef,
this is what i found on the website about this shield:

Culture : Biak

Asal : Cenderawasih-baai (prov. Papua) / Indonesië / Papua (Indonesië) / Biak (eiland) / Zuidoost-Azië: Insulair / Biak Numfor (regentschap) / Papua (provincie) / Schouten-eilanden (Papua)
vroeg 20e eeuw

169 × 42 × 15cm

Long rectangular plank made of light brown wood. In the center is a knob approximately 12 cm high, shaped like a cone compressed lengthwise. The nearly oval base measures about 14 cm along its length and 12.5 cm across its width at its widest points. Both above and below the knob, the shield is fitted with zigzag-shaped woven bands that run all the way around. These bands, made of split cane, divide the surface into nine roughly equal sections. The bands are connected by cords of finely woven rattan strips, which run lengthwise along the front and back, close to the sides and the center. The knob is hollowed out on the reverse side to serve as a handle. Both above and below the knob are black curling and hook-shaped motifs.

In Cenderawasih Bay, shields were rarely used, and only occasionally for protection against arrows. On the island of Biak, however, they were indeed used in combat. This contrasts with shields from the island of Roon, where they served as protection in a game in which players threw the husks of the cempedak (Artocarpus polyphema) at one another.


Nomor inventaris : RV-1971-1490

Materials: wood; cane (split); rattan (split)

References : De Clercq, F.S.A. en J.D.E. Schmeltz: Ethnographische beschrijving van de west- en noordkust van Nederlandsch Nieuw- Guinea (Leiden:P.W.M. Trap, 1893) p.146490

Materials: wood; cane (split); rattan (split)

Reference: De Clercq, F.S.A. and J.D.E. Schmeltz, Ethnographic Description of the West and North Coast of Dutch New Guinea (Leiden: P.W.M. Trap, 1893), p. 146



shield no. 2

Culture: Geelvink Bay cultures

Origin: Cenderawasih Bay / Southeast Asia: Insular / Indonesia / Papua (Indonesia) / Papua (Indonesia): regional
1875–1900

Dimensions: 75 × 15 × 7 cm

The curved, hourglass-shaped small shield (katua) from the northwestern part of Papua was adopted from the Moluccas, but the ancestor figure along the upper edge is unmistakably Papuan. The seated ancestor, depicted with a flared headdress of cassowary feathers and eyes made of glass beads, is turned protectively toward the shield bearer, one of his descendants.

By the end of the nineteenth century, warfare in this region had already been eradicated, and these parrying shields were transformed into ritual dance shields. Observers from that period report that on the small island of Roon, in the western part of the bay, such shields were playfully used in mock battles, in which opposing sides threw hard fruit shells at one another.

Source: David van Duuren, The Art of Defense: Shields from the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 2001, p. 54

Inventory number: TM-2736-1

Materials: glass; wood; carving; feather; paint

Publications:
Duuren, D. van, The Art of Defense: Shields from the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 2001, pp. 54–55

Exhibitions:
Abstracte schilden / rkunst, KIT Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, 2001–2002

This is all i could find detlef about the shields you where refering too,

Regards, Martin

And yes first thing i thought when i saw the salawaku
Moluccan influence..

Thank you Martin! :)