A Fine Old New Guinea War Shield Lumi or Nuku People West Sepik Province Papua New Guinea

A Superb Old War Shield from the Lumi Area in the Torricelli Mountain Ranges of The West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea.  Stone Carved and Dating from the 19th Century 

In New Guinea where most of the shields are either oval or rectangular, the Lumi Shields stand out with their elegant irregular and beautiful form. This shield is deeply incised with designs that are concentric circles connected by lines that remind me of Australian Aboriginal Sand

I am sure that long ago the person who made this shield had stories both about the shape shield and the designs which are now probably lost.   These designs are mesmerizing to look at; in fact most New Guinea Shields the designs are meant to frighten or confuse the enemy.  I was told this by many different tribal groups in New Guinea and West Papua,

In many areas of New Guinea shields are said to be vessels for ancestral spirits and often have personal names that only the owner of the shield can invoke.

The face of the shield has numerous spears or arrow tips embedded in the shield and can be clearly seen in the photos.  Lumi shields like this example have five rattan binding points seen from the front, these originally would have held a rattan handle or strap on the back of the shiels where the warrior could slip through his arm and firmly hold in place on this shoulder hands-free to shoot a bow & arrow while protecting his body from enemy arrows.  Lumi shields were quite light and quite thick and could easily stop an arrow from penetrating the warrior.

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art & Shields

See my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY  showing the Museums and Art Galleries Exhibitions that I provided artworks for over the past 40 years. There is the link to the article about my artworks published in the prestigious Louvre Magazine in 1996

I have artwork for Museums and art Galleries but also for collectors at every stage of their collecting. I want to encourage people to explore the fine art of New Guinea & West Papua and the Pacific Islands and to be able to see and touch the artworks in a relaxed and friendly manner in my Sydney Gallery. I would like to invite you to visit my gallery and see the artworks in person and also look at my website www.oceanicartsaustralia.com where there are many Galleries & Sub Galleries to explore.

My Gallery of nearly 40 years is the last physical gallery in Sydney that specializes in New Guinea and Oceanic Art.  Sydney is very close to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbors.

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