Classic Coastal Asmat Shield

This classic piece is roughed out with stone tools and the fine relief detailing is often created with cassowary bone chisels or shell tools. On the coast, shields are made from the lightweight prop roots of mangrove trees.

All colours used have magical qualities and represent different aspects of the Asmat world, both seen and unseen. The white color comes from burned and powdered mussel shells. Yellow comes from clay traded out from the foothills behind the Asmat swamp, when burned it turns into a deep red. Black comes from crushed charcoal. Red is the color of beauty and power. The Asmat say that red painted around the eyes imitates the colour around the eyes of a black king cockatoo when angry, giving the warrior a menacing look.

Asmat Shields are primarily used in village warfare as physical protection. However, their greatest power comes through the ancestral symbolisation individually carved on each shield. No one Asmat Shield is alike.

DIMENSIONS: 153CM X 40CM

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