A very large and spectacular war shield representing the great clan hero Wulruwiyanggwet. The shield is of exceptional size and weight. Newton reports that the larger shields could weigh in the region of 20 kilos. They were used for organized warfare which included pre-planned times and battle grounds. The face on this shield is very similar to the face of a GARAB mask which represents a water-spirit - these were presented to those men being initiated into the highest grade-level of the KWOD, or slit-gong ceremonies. Only a KOMAPTAN (or confirmed homicide) could enter into the KWOD ceremony. The KOMAPTAN wore a special black body-paint mixed with the blood of his victims, a carved coconut phalocrypt and various shell and boar-tusk ornaments. This shield is most likely that of a KOMAPTAN - a great warrior, a man who has killed many others. The rear is carved with two large vertical ridges that support the cross bars that form the grip.

Mulmul’yon clan, Wogumas Group, Wogumush River, Upper Sepik, PNG, Melanesia. Wood with fiber and pigments. 19/20th century. 163 x 40.5 18 cm. Ex coll. Eckert, Basel, 1955.

See an identical example in the Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Vb 20562 and a very similar one in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. N° Museum of Primitive Art 69.16.

Ref. : Newton, Douglas: CROCODILE AND CASSOWARY. The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1971.