A MANGROVE WOOD SHIELD ''VASEM''

Description:

Papua Selatan (New Guinea West, Central, Republic of Indonesia), Asmat
ca. 212 cm
Oval shield vasem from the Asmat culture. The large Asmat shields, which occur in a similar form on Tanimbar, are both combat and protective weapons as well as status objects. The base is flattened, the upper part ends in a rounded area that is regarded as the ‘head’ of the shield, which is the alter ego of its owner. The front view (facing the opponent) is carved in flat relief with abstract, asymmetrical forms and painted in red and white colour (ochre, lime). The double axially symmetrical motifs on the front are interpreted as a grouping of abstract human figures that are either victims of ritualised headhunting or ancestors of the wearer. The uncarved back has an integral handle. The lower side can be provisionally placed on the ground during battle and ceremonial acts. Shields of this type were once carried in tribal feuds for the purpose of ritual headhunting, otherwise they are stored in men's houses and highly respected. They are often ritually damaged or destroyed during funeral ceremonies. They are always made from one piece, in the better cases (as here) with an integral handle on the back. Sometimes elaborate spears (jukaim, fum), clubs and daggers made of human bone are used as offensive weapons. The motifs on the shields associated with ancestor worship can be partly traced back to mainland Austronesian archetypes (abstracted inner-Asian animal style) and, according to some interpretations - as an alternative to the classifications as stylised human figures; see above - represent a mythical primordial village or the path of the initiate to the world beyond and back. The Asmat culture, which is agriculturally orientated, is based on cyclically oriented cosmologies that are based on regular renewal rituals, including headhunting to ‘gain’ life energy. These have extensive equivalents in eastern Indonesia and correspond in many respects to the Eleusinian concepts.
From an old German private collection, acquired in the 1980s - Partially traces of age