FEATURE MSC Annals. The shield on the left was once again exhibited 124 during a missionary conference held in Maastricht in July 1921. The commemorative volume of the conference contains a photograph of the MSC stand (fig. 13).30 It shows a man, in all probability Father Nollen, surrounded by objects from the Marind-Anim. Nollen had just returned from New Guinea and got right to work in Maastricht, just like Brother Hamers in 1913. A photograph of this installation (without Nollen) was also published in the Katholieke Illustratie with the caption, “A stand that caught particular attention.”31 Father Viegen contributed to the composition of the display and, in addition to the shields, it also shows two of “his” sculptures. Judging by the commemorative volume, the conference was a resounding success: “And the exhibition! The center of the whole mission week … twenty-one orders or congregations active in the mission gave an engaging overview such as no museum here nor abroad can offer of the religious and cultural condition of the various peoples on this earth where our missionaries are active.”32 The MSC might have had high expectations of the then as yet unopened Asmat territories, but after 1921 the visible traces of the Asmat objects collected by Viegen promptly decline to the point where they literally disap- FIG. 21 (right and detail far right): Shield no. 4, which arrived at Wereldmuseum Rotterdam in 1916 as Private loan. It was probably purchased by the museum later the same year. Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam, inv. 23400. FIG. 23 (right): Shield no. 16, acquired by Paul Wirz in 1920. In its file, Wirz wrote (in nearly illegible writing): “Shield made of wood, tapering downward, height 1 m 45, greatest width 42 cm, with ornamental figures indentations, where ? painted white, at the middle a human figure, even with the decoration ... back with ... Existing handle cut.” It is not clear how Wirz acquired this shield in 1920 after it had been published in 1914 in the MSC periodical. Museum der Kulturen, Basel, inv. Vb 5012. FIG. 24 (right): Shield no. 10, sold at Sotheby’s, New York, November 18, 2000, lot 14. Catalog description: “Rare and remarkable Asmat shield, flat and oblong with three holes around the edge, the center carved in low relief with a flying fox pattern at the bottom and at the top crescent-shaped patterns representing a bird, worot, surrounded by other zigzag patterns; the top panel comprises two circles incised and a sculpted handle on the opposite side; beautiful patina with white, red ocher, and traces of black pigment. H. 132 cm. Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s. FIG. 22 (middle right): Shield no. 19. Ex MSC, Tilburg. Private collection.
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