African shields

[fantail]

I stumbled upon this interesting website that I thought some of you might be interested in. Lots of nice photos of various African shileds-many show both sides and other details.
http://www.hamillgallery.com/SITE/Shields.html
Nice reference for figure painting.
Andrew

[Chairface]

Nice, a great reference!

[Plynkes]

Thanks, Andrew.

Positive proof there that when painting your Masai shields you do not need to fret if it all goes a bit wonky...






These wooden Ngoni shields...



...are completely new to me. I'm somewhat sceptical to be honest, as they also have this...



... labelled as a Zulu shield. They either know much more than we do on the subject, or have no idea what they're talking about at all. 

[Bugsda]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130347534822&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Now this is a Zulu shield, wish I had the spare cash 

[Plynkes]

Hmm. I'm tempted, but I'm not really taken with the colour/pattern. Oh well.

I already have a Swazi shield (which is near enough), so I'll pass until a Zulu one I like better comes along...

[Bugsda]

Very nice shield Plynkes, but it don't really go with the tin hat and the football shirt.

I'm not one to judge but a bit of a fashion faux pas I think 

[Plynkes]

Yes, sorry. As far as the shirt and shield combo goes, I got Swazi mixed up with Stasi again, didn't I? (Yuk Yuk!) 

[mortimer]

Great site, huge collections of shields, weapons, masks, dolls, puppets, fetish!!! thanks for the link!!!

A big treasure, all genius artworks

[Ray Rivers]

Interesting tid bit on Masai shields for you all...

From "Armies of the Nineteenth Century: Africa, East Africa; Tribal and Imperial Armies in Uganda, Kenya Tanzania and Zanzibar, 1800-1900" by Chris Peers:

MASAI SHIELD PATTERNS Numerous examples of Masai shield patterns, known as sirata, are recorded.  The great majority followed the same basic principles.  First the surface was stripped of hair, polished, and painted white.  It was then divided into two halves by a pattern called es segira, running from top to bottom, which - although varying in the details of its design - were supposed to represent cowrie shells.  Like the rest of the shield, this pattern was painted in black, white, red and occasionally grey. Thomson once mentions yellow, but no other authority confirms this.  No other colours were used, although the red could vary in shade.  On the left half of the shield (looking from the front) were elliptical designs indicating the clan and age-set of the bearer, which were usually in red.  On the right side there were sometimes patterns (generally in black), which were specific to individual warriors or related to sub-clans or families.  By the time anthropologists began to investigate the meanings of the shield patterns this system of clan 'heraldry' was dying out, and in most cases by the end of the 19th century the right had side of the shield was either left blank, like that of Figure 75, or carried a mirror image of the symbols on the left.  It is likely that the use of the family symbols had been more widespread in previous decades, but the precise details of their significance have not been recorded.  Smaller elliptical patterns at the top and bottom of the shield (see numbers 76n, o, and p) appear to have been temporary additions used to identify the warriors belonging to a war party or engaged in a specific campaign.  They seldom appear in illustrations, and were probably not often employed.  Twentieth-century shields were often very crudely decorated, but early photographs imply that men may have taken more care over them in the days when they were still used in war.  Hinde, writing in 1901, says that they were painted with 'extraordinary accuracy.'"  page 142

[Plynkes]

Well bloody hell. That blows my idea out of the water!  I have that book, but I obviously didn't take in that passage.

Back to practising those bloody shields, then.

[Gluteus Maximus]

Just when you think you've seen everything.....

 

I won't ask what's going on there, but I suspect certain substances may have been involved   

Damn fine shield though and it's interesting to see the two different colours used for the straps on the same colour background.