Understanding geometrical features of Nuaulu shield design

Bibliographic Data

ID2391156
AuthorsR Ellen (0000-0002-7349-2419, The University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume24
Issue2
Pages210-231
Publication date2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183518803393
OpenAlexW2896494844
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited25

This article seeks to elucidate the form and function of decorative designs on Nuaulu parrying shields from Seram, Indonesia. It builds on earlier work focusing on the shield as a sacred anthropomorphized entity with its own life-cycle, the reproduction of which mirrors the reproduction of sacred houses. It has previously been suggested that diversity in design elements is deliberately cultivated as part of a general aesthetic, connecting individuality, personhood and effervescence as features of living entities. Here the author examines the materiality of shields, documenting variation in design - especially patterns of ceramic and shell discs - and asks what significance should be attached to these. He concludes that the attribution of specific meanings to individual elements is of limited application, while the impact of the shields lies in variation itself, the perceptual affects shields have on viewers, and in abstract geometric characteristics that make them fit for ritual purpose

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Materiality (auditing · Personhood · Reproduction · Shield · Shields · Sociology · Variation (astronomy · Architecture and Cultural Influences · Cultural and Artistic Studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Philosophy · Ecology · Geology

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