Specifications

• Height: 136,5 cm.
• Material: wood, pigments
• Position:
• Gender:
• Indigenous name:
• Price realised: € 2.200,- hp

Provenance

Cornelis Tjepko Bertling (1891-1970), Bloemendaal; by descent to son Adriaan; Venduehuis, The Hague 9-9-2021, lot 664.

Publications

Ref.: Schoonheyt, L.J.A. (1936), Boven-Digoel, p. 213.

Exhibitions

Additional information

According to the son, his father acquired the shield in the 1920s or early 1930s. Bertling held a law doctorate and was commissioned for judicial affairs on the outer islands whilst working as a government official in the colonial ministry of Justice. He repatriated in 1947.

Schoonheyt, a physician in the internment camp Boven-Digul, photographed several people living in and around the camp. On p. 213 he illustrates a warrior with a shield with an almost similar pattern. As far as I know this is the first Awyu shield ever photographed.

Photo credits

Arend Velsink/ Venduehuis, The Hague