A Superb and Rare Central Province war shield, Likely 19th Century. Cloudy Bay, Central Province, Papua New Guinea. (Border with Milne Bay province).Of elegant form, the shield bowed from side to side, the top and bottom with a raised panel with zig-zag lines incised and dentate patterns, across the front a band of heavy split cane wrapped with fiber binding Fine old dark patina with excellent signs of use and wear. Harry Beran in his entry on Massim Shields in “Shields of Melanesia” (Beran, 2005) illustrates a nearly identical shield to the present example and writes (Pg. 198, Fig. 7.16) one of these is shown in Fig. 7.16. It is semi-oblong, with two long straight sides, curved at top and bottom, and in front slightly convex from side to side….The shields are stained with a dark pigment and have a narrow recessed band carved along the top and bottom edges. They measure approximately 90 x 50 cm, are 4 cm thick and weigh about 5 kg. Thirteen examples have been located: one collected in Suau Island by P.G. Black and now in the Buffalo Museum of Science; and twelve collected by or on behalf of MacGregor in the 1890s, two of which are in the Australian Museum, four in the Queensland Museum, and six in the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery. Quinnell (pers. comm., 6 December 2000) believes it is these shields which are referred to by De Vis (1894: 98) when he notes that among the forty-three shields collected by or on behalf of MacGregor, there are 'several of the ponderous shields of Cloudy Bay'. This bay is in Central Province some 120 kilometres west of Orangerie Bay.This superb example would be the fourteenth known shield of this very rare type. The Shield measures 36 inches tall x 23 inches wide.

Good, well handled and worn