Motu People from Central Province

Papua New Guinea

Dating from the 19th Century 

The elegant figure-eight shape of Motu shields is a rarity out of the corpus of New Guinea Shields that tend to either be oval or rectangular. This has the finest balance where the upper half-circle is slightly larger than the bottom one. The original rattan binding is intact including the woven designs.  Such shields were used by the Motu, Koita, and Koiari peoples in the region around the capital of Port Moresby & Central Province.