shield-ornament
- Museum number
- Oc1990,09.664.b
- Description
-
Shield-ornaments, comprising 25 long canes (in one instance, a thick wire) to the upper ends of which cassowary plumes (in two cases synthetic materials) have been tied. In use, a number of such canes are tied to the inner side of a shield, with the cassowary plumes projecting above it.
- Production date
- 20thC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 110 - 177 centimetres (approximately)
- Curator's comments
- Cassowary plumes mounted on canes which are attached to the reverse of a shield so that they wave above the shield in battle; cassowaries - as large, fierce birds - are associated in certain contexts with warfare, and have a capacity to terrify. For an account of the making of the collection of which this is part, see ‘Paradise: portraying the New Guinea Highlands’, by Michael O’Hanlon (British Museum Press, 1993).
Attached to Oc1990,09.01-22
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1990
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1990,09.664.b