A kanta shield for restauration
 

I never would have the money to buy a kanta shield from Sulawesi in good condition which will cost some thousand $$ since this shields are very rare. By searching through ebay I found some days ago such a shield wrong labeled and in a category where I normally don't search. The shield is in a sad condition but restorable, see pictures from the seller. Most of the hair and nearly all bone plate inlays are missing. The inlays by this shields are from bone and not from MOP. The small shells are nassa shells. The shield is 44" (112 cm) long and 5 1/4" (13 cm) broad.
All comments are very welcome.

Here a picture of such a shield in much better condition. I hope that my one will look once similar.

GOOD BUYING,ALL THE BEST FOR THE RESTORATION

Thank you Rajesh! :)

In this thread was shown also a kanta: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=shield

And an example from the Tropenmuseum: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...nr_A-2575a.jpg

Attached are two more kanta shields.

Hi Detlef,

very nice shield and a long way to restore it. I have some old wooden items from Africa and my first step is to apply a special furniture wax to the surface.
It is a mixture of carnauba wax and bee wax with a low viscosity. It makes the surface darker and brings a beautiful shine on it. Old wood is often totally dried out, the wax is very important to avoid further cracks and increase the liftetime of the item dramatically.
This wax is also a very good treatment for horn surfaces.

Regards Roland

Hi Roland,

thank you for comment. When the wood isn't to dry I am not a fan of waxing shields. I have a good collection of shields from the Moluccas and not one of them has get a waxing. We will see the condition of the wood when it arrived. Only in the case that the wood is extremly dry it will get a coating of wax.

Best regards,
Detlef

What a great buy. I wouldn't mind one of these myself. Good luck with all the bone and hair inserts. I've done both in the past (and will again on another piece soon) and it is definitely time consuming.

CONGRATULATIONS ITS NOT OFTEN COLLECTORS OF LIMITED MEANS ARE ABLE TO ACQUIRE SUCH A TREASURE AT A PRICE WE CAN AFFORD. :D WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN IT ALWAYS BRINGS A LOT OF PLEASURE.
ITS GOOD THAT THERE IS SOME INLAY PRESENT TO SEE IF IT IS BONE OR SHELL AND WHAT SPECIES OF COWRIE SHELL WAS USED. THE BODY OF THE SHIELD LOOKS INTACT SO JUST ADDING THE HAIR , SHELL AND OTHER INLAY AND PERHAPS A TOUCH UP OF THE BLACK HERE AND THERE SHOULD HAVE THIS SHIELD LOOKING FIRST RATE. GOOD LUCK WITH IT AND I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THE FULL RESTORATION. :cool:

Thank you both for your kind words. And yes, it will need time to bring it back to old glory. And I think that the pictures are a little bit overexposed and that the surface of the shield is still more black as the pictures may suggest. In the book "Shields" from Benitez & Barbier on pages 156/157 is shown such a shield and it is stated that the inlays are from bone.
This shields coming from Central Northern Sulawesi, Gulf of Tomini or Kulawi. It's also stated that this type of shield is no longer produced in the twentieth century. But it seems unclear to which ethnic group this shields can be attributed: "Kaudern gives it as 'Kulawi', the brothers Paul and Fritz Sarasin attribute it to the Topebato ethnic group, while Albert Grubauer places it among the Tobela who inhabit an area to the east of Sa'dan Toraja. Kaudern (1917-20: fig. 122) goes as far as to state that it could be found among the Minahassa living in the northeast of what used to be Celebes."

* Shields Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania, Benitez & Barbier

For Gulf of Tomini see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tomini

Hello Barry,

it will need time but be sure that I will post pictures soon as the shield is restored. :)

Regards,
Detlef

Hello Detlef,

Nice catch indeed.
The rattan across the front and around the edges seems to be all there.
That is a great plus.

I would suggest to start with restoring the bone inlays and the nassa shells, and than take some time to see if that gives a satisfying result.

I think that by restoring the hair, there is a big risk that it will get a "too new" or "too obviously restored" appearance.

Good luck anyway , and would love to see the results in due time.

Best regards,
Willem

Hello Willem,

thank you and a very good suggestion and something what I've in mind also.
I've download all pictures from kanta shields I've found in the net and by nearly all is hair and also some of the inlays from bone and the nassa shells missing. I think to start with the bone inlays, this will give the shield already a much better appearance. Most of the nassa shells are present and maybe I don't will recruit to much of them. The same with the hair, I don't think it will be good to "refill" all empty holes, like said, the above shown shields missing hair as well. But a little bit more as it has in the moment will be ok to let it look good again.

Best regards,
Detlef

Congratulations Detlef,

a nice and old kanta!

Here some (unfortunately bad) photos of a kanta from the Bronbeek museum in Arnhem, which I took about 5 years ago.

Best regards,
Maurice

Hi Maurice,

thank's! :) The one from the Bronbeek museum is very bulky and has a unusual design when you compare it to the other shown examples. And it has also missing inlays and hair. Thank you for showing this example again, it will help to restore my one.

Best regards,
Detlef

Hi Detlef,

Yes very bulky and unusual design compared to other shown examples.
But I'm sure this one is from a very old collection, but can't recall from which.
If I find out I'll let you know.
I just wanted to show a very old kanta in a museum, also with some shortcomings, that belongs and is normal for the old pieces we collect. :-)

Kind regards,
Maurice

Hi Maurice,

when you look intent to my example you will see that the inlays also different from the other shown examples.
And for sure I don't want to "over"-restore this shield, it don't will get a new black paint on the surface and I think that I don't will add/restore the nassa shell inlays. But think that it will need to restore the most bone inlays and also some hair to give back the shield character. ;)

Best regards,
Detlef

Have received some much better pictures from Robert to whom I let ship the shield. The pictures show that the surface is still black and they show also the very good patina of the shield. The triangular inlays seems to be indeed from bone.

PERHAPS YOU CAN FIND AN 80 YEAR OLD MAN OR HORSE WITH LONG HAIR THEY WILL PART WITH. THEN YOU COULD TRULY SAY IT WAS A OLD REPLACEMENT. ;) RESTORED OR AS FOUND IS ALWAYS A HARD DECISION BUT A GOOD RESTORATION DOES MAKE THEM LOOK GOOD. :)

:D :D I certainly prefer the good restauration. Long as you can make all retrograde and you declare the piece in question as restored it's not a mistake IMVHO.

Regards,
Detlef

Congrat Detlev,
 

IMO Kantas are much rarer than other shield types, so you are really lucky to get one. I had this luck some forty years ago at Galerie Lemaire in Amsterdam. Here are some pics:

Hello Udo,

thank you. I look forward to your pictures when you have successful resized them. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

IT LOOKS LIKE YOU WILL NEED QUITE A LOT OF BONE. HAVING SOME PIECES SHOULD HELP YOU DETERMINE WHAT SORT OF BONE WAS USED. USING LOGIC AND WHAT LITTLE I KNOW ABOUT THE AREA IT COULD BE PIG BONE, LARGE FISH BONE, SEA TURTLE BONE OR WATER BUFFALO OR COW. DUGGONE, WHALE AND PROPOSE MIGHT ALSO HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE. THE EASY WAY WOULD BE TO FIND ENOUGH BONE ALL OF ONE TYPE AND REPLACE ALL THE PIECES AT ONCE. GOOD LUCK YOU HAVE QUITE A PROJECT AHEAD. :)

Hello Barry,

yes, it will be a great amount of bone but since there are only a few inlays remaining it don't will be very important which sort of bone will be used and it would be a great problem to purchase dugong, whale or sea turtle bone without problems. Of course it will be good to use the original materials but I doubt that someone will be able to see the differents between the above bone sorts. I will post pictures of the steps from the restauration.

Regards,
Detlef