ARTIST ONCE KNOWN, Western Australian Wunda Shield, mid-20th century

ARTIST ONCE KNOWN Western Australian Wunda Shield, mid-20th century carved hardwood and natural earth pigments 72.5h x 15w x 5d cm; 86h x 15w x 19.5d cm (with stand) PROVENANCE Field collected, Western Australia The Strehlow Collection, South Australia thence by descent Megaw & Hogg Auctions, The Strehlow Collection, Adelaide, South Australia, 18 October 1999, Lot 22 Private Collection, New South Wales Wunda shields are identified by their fluted channels, carved in three distinct panels running parallel to one another, with the central panel set on the diagonal or horizontal against the vertical registers above and below. Though wunda shields circulated widely across Western Australia, their manufacture centred on the region between the Murchison and Gascoyne Rivers, from where they entered extensive exchange networks reaching east into South Australia and north to the Kimberley. This dispersal reflected both economic exchange and religious significance, since the shields were traded as objects of considerable value beyond their country of origin. Functionally, they served to parry spears, boomerangs and clubs in combat. They were also carried by senior men as markers of status and used within ceremonial ritual, their form and decoration renewed through generations of use.

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