Canoe Shield
- Culture
- Ngala artist
- Date
- mid-20th century
- Material
- Wood, pigment, plant fiber
- Classification
- Arms & armor, sculpture
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 109
- Dimensions
- 50 x 42 1/2 x 6 in. (127 x 108 x 15.2 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 21:1977
NOTES
A face appears at the center of a fibrous panel, which extends from a pole carved with a succession of tiny hooks terminating with a bird head. Shields such as this were affixed to the front of canoes during ceremonies related to war expeditions or fertility. The term “canoe shield” is ambiguous. Such objects did not so much physically protect the occupants of the watercraft but rather endowed them with the power of the ancestor represented.
When not in use on a canoe, the shield could have been affixed to the facade of a men’s ceremonial house flanked by paddles. Although the significance of its use on a men’s house is unknown, there is a visual similarity between the overall form of the canoe shield and that of paddle heads.
Provenance
by 1971 -
Stendahl Galleries, Hollywood, CA, USA [1]
- 1971
Harry A. Franklin Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1971 - 1977
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Harry A. Franklin Gallery [2]
1977 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] This object is identified in a 1971 publication as "Collection Stendahl Galleries" [Newton, Douglas. "Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea." New York: Museum of Primitive Art, 1971, p.46].
[2] An invoice dated June 1, 1971 from Harry A. Franklin Gallery to Morton D. May documents the purchase of this object, listed as "Sepik River Canoe Shield...polychromed wood and spathe backed by bamboo framework" [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] A letter dated March 1, 1977 from Morton D. May to James N. Wood, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, April 14, 1977.
Stendahl Galleries, Hollywood, CA, USA [1]
- 1971
Harry A. Franklin Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1971 - 1977
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Harry A. Franklin Gallery [2]
1977 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] This object is identified in a 1971 publication as "Collection Stendahl Galleries" [Newton, Douglas. "Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea." New York: Museum of Primitive Art, 1971, p.46].
[2] An invoice dated June 1, 1971 from Harry A. Franklin Gallery to Morton D. May documents the purchase of this object, listed as "Sepik River Canoe Shield...polychromed wood and spathe backed by bamboo framework" [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] A letter dated March 1, 1977 from Morton D. May to James N. Wood, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, April 14, 1977.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.