A SULKA SHIELD

The Sulka people are widely known for their flamboyant masquerades involving elaborate, surreal - looking sculptural forms. Among their most original creations count also the extravagant, brightly colored ngaile shields of which the present lot is a rare and remarkable example. While most artistic creations of the Sulka were meant to serve as ephemeral paraphernalia, to be destroyed at the end of the ceremonies, this was not the case with the parring shields which were also employed in warfare. This explains why only a very limited number of such shields exists today and mainly in public collections.
The present shield stands out by its age and exceptional decoration. It is emblematic of Sulka artists’ lavish use of multiple colors, a unique feature that distinguishes their creations from those of other Pacific artists. Most distinctive of their practice is, as in the present case, the use of green and blue color that artists extracted from a certain type of earth (motom) or from Cordylin leaves. Furthermore white pigments were obtained from porcelain earth, while black was produced from the ashes of burnt nuts, and red from tapered bark.
The motifs depicted here follow the Sulka canon and are symmetrical from top to bottom. The face-like patterns on the shield, referred to as nunu, depict guardian spirits and were meant to be protective in nature. The double-eye-like designs are called “tears of a snake”, and as such perhaps based upon patterns found on the back of some local variety of snake. The back is carved and richly painted with further motifs either geometrical or reminiscent of natural forms of the local fauna.
The existence and use of war shields among the Sulka is linked to a complex system of warfare and self-representation, which served to emphasize the personal status of their owners within the community. As such they represent essential symbols of power and art.
Cf. two very similar examples currently in the collection of the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, inv. Nr. 14 345 and inv. Nr. 14 325, both acquired from Bruno Mencke in 1901. Both shields display comparable rich color motifs and complex geometrical patterns, and were acquired in the same region of Jaquinot-Bay, as indicated by an inscription in ink at the back of our present lot.
Other rare examples to be cited are in public collections of ethnographical museums in Berlin, Hamburg, Peabody or the MET.