An Early and Exceptional Narrow Parrying Shield

Darling River Region, New South Wales (early-mid nineteenth century)
carved hardwood and natural pigments
84.8 cm high

PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Primitive Works of Art, Sotheby's, London, 23 June 1981
Private Collection, United States of America

$18,000–25,000

A fine, early stone-carved parrying shield of diamond shaped cross-section and elongated triangular profile decorated on the front faces in four sections of zig-zag patterning etched into the surface, probably with a possum-jaw tool and inlaid with white pigment, with a solid cut handle. The shield possesses a fine red ochred patina. The shape is typical of south-eastern Australian parrying shields and especially those made in the region around the Darling, Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers in New South Wales. The shields were used for defending the holder from club blows in close combat. The repeated parallel zig-zag motifs, again typical of the style of the region, present a visually shimmering appearance that enhances the physical and spiritual efficacy of the weapon. For similarly early parrying shields see Cooper, C. et al, Aboriginal Australia, Australian Gallery Directors Council, Sydney, 1981, p. 84, S26–S30, and Davies, S.M. with R. Stack, Collected: 150 Years of Aboriginal Art and Artifacts at the Macleay Museum, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2002, p. 82, plate 98.

Wally Caruana