Dayak shields

[Maurice]

Hi,

I thought it would be nice to start a thread about dayak shields!
It would be interesting to see what others have in their collection.

Hopefully there are collectors amongst us who have some dayak shields and would like to share images of them?

Maurice

[Maurice]

dayakshield:

[Maurice]

Dayakshield:

[Albert]

This is a strange one in my collection.
Extremely simple.
Roughly made.
No rattan bindings.
But it certainly has age!
I am puzzled. Has anyone seen an specimen like this before?

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Albert

This is a strange one in my collection.
Extremely simple.
Roughly made.
No rattan bindings.
But it certainly has age!
I am puzzled. Has anyone seen an specimen like this before?

Hello Albert,

What is the size of the shield? If it is smaller as usual it could be a shield of a child (you can find a picture of such in
In Centraal Borneo II from Anton Willem Nieuwenhuis.)


If it's a normal sized shield, we have several possibilities I guess:
A: It could be used in "mock battles";
B: Or it was used as a dancing shield;
C: Plain ones were also put sometimes in dayak graves;
D: It was made for a statue in the village which had the purpose to drive out and keep away bad spirits.


In my opinion it wasn't used for warfare.

Maurice

[Albert]

Originally Posted by Maurice

Hello Albert,

What is the size of the shield? If it is smaller as usual it could be a shield of a child (you can find a picture of such in
In Centraal Borneo II from Anton Willem Nieuwenhuis.)


If it's a normal sized shield, we have several possibilities I guess:
A: It could be used in "mock battles";
B: Or it was used as a dancing shield;
C: Plain ones were also put sometimes in dayak graves;
D: It was made for a statue in the village which had the purpose to drive out and keep away bad spirits.


In my opinion it wasn't used for warfare.

Maurice

The size is: length 118 cm, width 39 cm.
I also added photo's of the backside and the handle.
I think, it is not type B. The dancing shields ususally are more elaborate. I guess, type C or D are the most probable.

[asomotif]

Originally Posted by Albert

This is a strange one in my collection.
Extremely simple.
Roughly made.
No rattan bindings.
But it certainly has age!
I am puzzled. Has anyone seen an specimen like this before?

Hello Albert,

Do you have pictures of the back ?

Best regards,
Willem

Ps. nice thread Maurice.

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Hello Albert,

Do you have pictures of the back ?

Best regards,
Willem

Ps. nice thread Maurice.

Yes an image of the back (and handle) would indeed be a surplus.

Thanks Willem, post some of yours please to make the thread more "alive"...


Maurice

[Royston]

Here are my three.

Good thread Maurice.

All the best
Roy

[Sajen]

Good idea for a thread Maurice, very sadly I have nothing to add. They are extreme expensive but maybe one day.....

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Good idea for a thread Maurice, very sadly I have nothing to add. They are extreme expensive but maybe one day.....

Don't be , as I need to add so much to my private collection, it will probably impossible to do so in my life....

I'm sure you'll find one sooner or later!
And you have very nice Moluccan shields....

Maurice

[Maurice]

This shield was once in my collection, and is belongs to a friend now.
The photos are bad unfortunately, but it does show the painted motifs clearly enough.

The handle of this one had an enormous glossy patina of use. Probably this one was used as a dancing shield...?

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Royston

Here are my three.

Roy those three are a very good selection of different types of shields.

The klebit bok (hairy shield) is one of the book and I think it is a Kayan shield from the kayans living in the Sarawak area.

The second one is plain, and in very good condition. I remember the thread before and I still think it's a good old one!

The third one is also a very nice one. Often these kind of shields are (partly) painted with red dye, and were in use by the seadayaks.

Thanks for sharing these wonderfull shields Roy!

Best wishes,
Maurice

[asomotif]

Originally Posted by Royston

Here are my three.

Good thread Maurice.

All the best
Roy

Wow,
I love those figures with lots of eyes on te back of the hair shield.
I must say that the decorations on the back are often much more interesting than the decoration on the front.

[billevans]

2 shields in my collection

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by billevans

2 shields in my collection

Both beautifull examples, thank you for sharing!
Especially the backside of the first one I like very much.
It looks like the handle on the second one has great patina on the handle!

Regards,
Maurice

[Maurice]

This is one of my favorite photo's with an excellent shield on it!

The photo was taken during the expedition of van Walcheren in 1904, where we see some Kenyah dayaks around Samarinda.

Also added a photo of the East Borneo expedition with their Kenyah guides, including 4 elder headmen, the indigenous doctor Tehupeiory, and E.W.F. van Walchren himself.

[asomotif]

Originally Posted by Maurice

This is one of my favorite photo's with an excellent shield on it!

The photo was taken during the expedition of van Walcheren in 1904, where we see some Kenyah dayaks around Samarinda.

Also added a photo of the East Borneo expedition with their Kenyah guides, including 4 elder headmen, the indigenous doctor Tehupeiory, and E.W.F. van Walchren himself.

Wonderfull pictures Maurice. (my kingdom for a time-travel machine )
What I already learned in the past, is that shields are not easy (if not impossible) to pinpoint on a certain tribe.
This picture is a perfect example.
A plain shield, a decorated shield in a normal size, and the broad / oversized shield. All in one picture.

Best regards,
Willem

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Wonderfull pictures Maurice. (my kingdom for a time-travel machine )
What I already learned in the past, is that shields are not easy (if not impossible) to pinpoint on a certain tribe.
This picture is a perfect example.
A plain shield, a decorated shield in a normal size, and the broad / oversized shield. All in one picture.

Best regards,
Willem

Thank you Willem. Great you appreciate the old photographs just as much as I do!
Indeed it's very difficult to pinpoint certain tribes to a specific kind of shield.
But sometimes we can find little things in texts, on photographs, in old museum collections which can be just enough to point out a certain area (and sometimes even the specific tribe).
That's why I can attribute Roy's third depicted shield to be most likely from the sea dayaks, and the klebit bok might be of a Kayan tribe living in Sarawak.

Kind regards,
Maurice