Inlaid shields created in the Solomon Islands are dazzling and enigmatic objects. Most consist of ordinary basketry fighting shields, which have been overmodeled with resin, painted, and inset with mother-of-pearl inlays cut from chambered nautilus shell. The imagery represented consistently depicts a human figure. The subject may be a warrior or protective spirit that frequently appears above a horizontal band adorned with smaller human faces, possibly alluding to the former practice of headhunting. Too delicate for use in combat, these shields were almost certainly symbolic objects carried as marks of martial prowess by chiefs and prominent warriors.
From the outset the acquisition of an inlaid shield from the Solomon Islands was a priority for the MPA collection. The "Desiderata" for this canonical genre sketched by d'Harnoncourt in the Oceanic notebook was a nearly identical example in the Museum of Bordeaux in France. One of only roughly two dozen known, this one was owned successively by two Scottish museums from 1836 until 1959 before it was acquired and sold to Rockefeller by New York dealer John J. Klejman.
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1972
Accession Number:1978.412.730
Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, Scotland, until 1959; [John J. Klejman, until 1959]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1959,on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1959–1972; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1972–1978
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nelson Rockefeller Vision: In Pursuit of 'The Best' in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas," October 7, 2013–October 9, 2014.
Museum of Primitive Art. Masterpieces in the Museum of Primitive Art: Africa, Oceania, North America, Mexico, Central to South America, Peru. Handbook series. New York, NY: Museum of Primitive Art, 1965, no. 51.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 69.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 116.
Newton, Douglas. Masterpieces of Primitive Art: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, pp. 18, 136.
Waite, Deborah. Art of the Solomon Islands: From the Collection of the Barbier-Müller. Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller, 1983.
Waite, Deborah. "Exploring Solomon Islands Shields: Vehicles of Power in Changing Museum Contexts." In Pacific art:: Persistence, Change, and Meaning, edited by Anita Herle. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002, p. 189.
Kjellgren, Eric. Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, pp. 168–169, no. 99.
Nuku, Maia. Oceania: The Shape of Time. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023, p. 152, pl. 83.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
