Nagaland (North-East India)
Wood
A decorative shield made of hide (buffalo), painted brown and moulded into a double-rib. Attached to the centre of the back is a square-shaped handle made from split rattan, with a plaited rattan band fastened to this. The shield is thick and stiff, like wood, and capable of stopping arrows as well as fending off blows from a knife and a spear. It is painted with kaolin, soft white clay and depicts geometric designs.
The Naga are a group of culturally and linguistically linked tribes who live in the mountainous regions of northeastern India and northwestern Burma (Myanmar). As headhunters, they were feared and avoided by their neighbours, allowing them to develop a distinctive material culture, in which the objects they created possess impressive aesthetic value and great symbolic importance to the community, and a complex system of norms and taboos.
This shield here is probably from the Konyak Naga, a powerful Naga group that also controls a major trading centre. Konyak shields display similar characteristics: rectangular shape, a raised central ridge, and white designs. Like many Naga traditions, the making of a shield is a carefully scheduled and executed procedure, which begins with a week-long purification for the warrior and his family. After the natural materials are gathered, the design and fabrication process begins. Once completed, the shield must be examined by village shamans and elders before it can be declared unblemished and ready to protect the owner in battle. These characteristics indicate that the shield design is not only for battle but a symbol of identity, prestige and power for a Konyak warrior. Pictorial essays of the Konyak Naga in daily life show men presenting their lavishly decorated ceremonial shields and dancing with them during spring festivals.
