Transitional Bardi Shield

Traditional Bardi shield painted with later Mission inspired designs

Object type: Dance Shield

Locality: Dampier peninsula Kimberley Western Australia

Artist: Unknown

Circa: 1960

Length: 62 cm

Description:

This rare Bardi shield presents an arresting and unconventional painted composition, distinct from the canonical visual language of the Dampier Peninsula. The use of blue pigment and pencil suggest it was painted during the mission era, a period in which Aboriginal Artists negotiated new pigments, tools, audiences, and mission contexts while maintaining deep cultural continuities.

Although the precise provenance of this example remains unrecorded, the absence of documented history should not be construed as an absence of cultural life. The handle exhibits a rich, well-developed patina and clear signs of prolonged use, indicating that the object served in its defensive capacity prior to the later application of design. Such evidence of wear underscores the shield’s transitional nature: an artefact originally made for customary purposes, later adapted within the hybrid aesthetic environments that emerged across northern Australia during the mission period.

These rare cross-currents—where Custom practice and emerging Mission influence intersect—are increasingly recognised as historically significant. Transitional works of this kind remain critically undervalued, offering vital insight into the adaptive resilience of Aboriginal artistic expression at a moment of profound social transformation.

The composition is compelling, the form elegant, and the overall presence unmistakably singular. As collectors often say: when will you ever see another? This is, in every respect, a museum-quality piece at a bargain of a price.

Price: $900 AUD

Article on Aboriginal Bardi Shields