AFRICAN SHIELDS ARCHIVES

The shields below have been sold and are left here for educational and research purposes.
For UNSOLD African shields GO TO AFRICAN SHIELDS PAGE

ETHIOPIAN
Adornment Discs
ALL SOLD

MAASAI
Shield 1
SOLD

TUAREG
Shield 1
SOLD

ZULU
Shield 1
SOLD

 

CAMEROON
Shields
ALL SOLD

 TOPOKE
Shield 1
SOLD

NYATURA
Shield 1
SOLD

NYATURA
Shield 2
SOLD


NGONI
Shield 1
SOLD

NGONI
Shield 2
SOLD

FON
Shield 1
SOLD

FON
Shield 3
SOLD

FON
Shield 4
SOLD


LUBA
Shield 1
SOLD

LUBA
Shield 2
SOLD

LUBA
Shield 3
SOLD

ETHIOPIAN
Shields
SOLD


  

WANDALA
Shield 2
SOLD

 

WANDALA
Shield 4
SOLD

 

WANDALA
Shield 6
SOLD

EKET 1
SOLD

 

WANDALA 1
SOLD



SONGYE 11
SOLD

SONGYE 14
SOLD


SONGYE 7
SOLD

SONGYE 8
SOLD

SONGYE 9
SOLD

SONGYE 12
SOLD


 SONGYE 15
SOLD

SONGYE 18
SOLD

SONGYE 10
SOLD

SONGYE 2
SOLD


SONGYE 3
SOLD

SONGYE 4
SOLD

SONGYE 5
SOLD

SONGYE 6
SOLD


 

SHI Shield 1
SOLD

SHI Shield 2
SOLD

DINKA Shields
SOLD

Photographs © Hamill Gallery

AFRICAN SHIELDS ARCHIVES

"Initially utilitarian, ephemeral objects that were a key component of the defensive reflex, shields became so elaborate and ingeniously made that they came to be seen as works of art in their own right. By definition, a shield's main purpose is for combat, acting as a sign of a kind of war rite.  Yet it is also an object for ostentatious display in which communication is achieved through aesthetic power.  One of the trappings of personal adornment, a shield could be made for a feast day, for a ritual dance, or for a parade, as its presence in the tournaments of the medieval period makes abundantly clear.  This explains why shields have spent infinitely less time in the hands of warriors on the field of battle than hanging in halls with other curios, or in private collections and museums.  The elementary pupose of self-protection could never be enough.  The need for defence has nearly always been allied to a desire for magnificent display."

                             ---- Alain-Michel Boyer
                                                              Shields: Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania
                                                                             from the Collections of the Barbier-Mueller Museum
                      Prestel Verlag, 2000

 

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