93 FIG. 16 (left): War shield. Asmat, Papua Barat, Indonesia. Before 1929. Wood, pigment. H: 116.4 cm. Donated by Father Le Cocq d’Armandville in 1929 to the MRAH, Brussels. Acquired by the MRAC by exchange in 1979. MRAC inv. #EO.1979.1.1255. This ancient shield is from the northwest Asmat region. The design incorporates stylized renderings of flying foxes. These large bats were symbols of male ancestors and headhunters. The top of the shield has the face of a ray fish carved onto it. FIG. 17 (below): Five shields and other artifacts in the Asmat region, 1912. Photo: Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Netherlands. Courtesy of Karel Weener. FIG. 18 (right): War shield. Asmat, Papua Barat, Indonesia. Before 1912. Wood, pigment. H: 148.5 cm. Collected in 1912 by the Sacred Heart Mission, Tilburg, the Netherlands. Acquired from Jeanne Walschot in 1968. MRAC inv. #EO.1968.22.2. This early example is unusual in the simplicity of the decorative motifs. While difficult to identify the meanings of the designs, it is possible that the three squiggly motifs represent caterpillars. INFORMATION NEEDED: An Asmat Shield A few years ago, several photos of Asmat shields were found in a photo album from a monastery of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) in the Netherlands. The blackand white photo depicted below is one of them. A number of the shields in the images have now been traced to museum and private collections and some have also been recognized from photos taken during Dutch missionary exhibitions. The photos depict not only shields but also Asmat ancestor figures. These figures were exhibited in the Netherlands as early as 1913 and the shields by 1919 by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who previously were thought not to have been active in the Asmat region until 1941. Research that will be published in Tribal Art magazine led to missionary Joseph Viegen (MSC) and a military expedition into the Asmat region in 1912. Of the more than twenty Asmat shields and twelve ancestor images that Father Viegen collected at this time, more than half have been located, including three of the shields shown in the photo here. The shield at the far left of the photo was sold by Sotheby’s, New York, on November 18, 2000 (lot 14), but its present whereabouts are unknown. The second shield from the left is held by the Musée Royal d’Afrique Centrale in Tervuren, Belgium, and is included in the present exhibition in Brussels. The large shield in the center is at the Field Museum in Chicago. The whereabouts of the two shields at the right remain unknown. If you recognize one of them, please contact the editorial office of Tribal Art magazine.
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