A LEATHER BATTLE SHIELD ''WANDALAM''

Description:

Africa, Cameroon North, Mandara Mountains, Kirdi
H. 93 cm
Battle shield of the Kirdi or Fali from the Cameroonian highlands. Pigmented leather. The shield has the shape of a bell or a pointed bow with a flat base. It is made of boiled buffalo leather and has a double strap integrated into the back. The curved front is decorated with geometric ribbing; the central area (‘shield boss’) is flat and convex. The main decorative pattern forms an eight-pointed star consisting of three bars in each of the rays. The indentations are accentuated with light red (iron oxide). The area in between is made up of darker-coloured bars that form concentric arcs that follow the shape and are interrupted by the rays of the star. The reverse shows the bar pattern in negative. The profiling is not only beautiful, but also technically reinforces the shield considerably. The Fali and Mofu, who are neighbours of the Kirdi, use similar shields, so it is not possible to assign them with certainty. The shields are typologically ancient, as rock paintings prove. The older shields (like this one) are made of thick, hardened leather, which has very good protective properties and can allegedly even stop musket balls (from muzzle-loaders). Shields made of iron are a later development. The Kirdi, Fali and Mofu have retained the ‘bell shape’ of their earlier leather shields in their iron shields. The Kirdi are also known for their expressive clay sculptures and their round huts with pointed conical roofs made of reed, whose walls are covered with clay and which are built in tightly packed villages. A number of smaller Chad-speaking ethnic groups in northern Cameroon are referred to as Kirdi. These include the Kirdi, Kapsiki, Tupuri, Fali, Daba, Mofu, Mafa, Mandara, Guiziga, Musgum, Mundang and Massa. It is assumed that these groups fled to the Mandara Mountains and the Toupouri swamps to escape persecution by the Muslim Fulbe groups; however, there is also evidence that they have inhabited this area for a longer period of time. In contrast to the neighbouring Muslim societies, they are influenced by traditional African religions. Kirdi is a term for unbelievers (Kāfir) that probably originates from the Fulfulde (Fulbe). With more than 1.9 million people, they make up around eleven per cent of the Cameroonian population. Most Kirdi are cattle breeders or farmers.
From an old German private collection, acquired in the 1980s - Minor traces of age