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African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting
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Shield
Timor-Leste (East Timor), Ataúro Island, 19th century
Wood, metal, paint, horn; H: 35 3/4 in. (90.8 cm)
Provenance: Reportedly in Bali, Indonesia, 1977; Belgian antique dealer, 1979; James Willis, San Francisco, 1981; [R. Van der Stukken, Brussels, 1982]; Barbier-Mueller collection, since 1982
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The precise origin of this unique shield is uncertain. However, the style of the human image on the finial indicates that it is most likely from the island of Ataúro, part of the nation of East Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands north of Australia. The blocky, angular style of the figure with its thin, pendant limbs and conical hat, closely resembles Ataúro's distinctive ancestor figures, known as itara. However, while itara figures are either male or female, depending on the ancestor's gender, the present image, with both a phallus and prominent breasts, appears to be hermaphroditic. This suggests that the figure may represent a supernatural being who perhaps combines the normally separate male and female phenomena in Ataúro cosmology into a single entity. Too small to afford any substantial protection from the spears, arrows, and bladed weapons used in Ataúro warfare, the shield likely served a ceremonial or religious function. One account collected on the island states that such shields belonged to religious specialists and possessed magical properties, which enabled the user to fly or become invisible. See ancestor figures from Ataúro in the Met's collection: 1988.143.44, 1988.143.179.
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