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The Late Bill Evans Collection, Sydney
Lot 48
Maker UnknownA rainforest shield North Eastern Queensland height: 66.0cm
27 August 2025, 14:00 AEST
SydneyAU$8,000 - AU$12,000
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Alex Clark
Head of Sale, Senior Specialist
Merryn Schriever
Managing Director, Australia
Maker Unknown, A rainforest shield
North Eastern Queensland
natural earth pigments on wood
height: 66.0cm
natural earth pigments on wood
height: 66.0cm
Footnotes
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Melbourne, acquired in the 1950s
Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
Collection of the Late Bill Evans, Sydney
LITERATURE
To be included in the forthcoming publication Bill Evans, War Art & Ritual: Shields from Northeastern Australia, Sydney, Vol. 3
Research published by Museums Victoria on rainforest shields observes that, 'the colours and complex abstract patterns are totemic designs associated with marine life, animals, birds, insects, leaf patterns or astronomical observations. Usually two men painted these shields working from either end and, depending on the detail required, pigments were applied with a stick frayed at the ends to form a brush or those made from hair or with the fingers. Pigments were ground into a powder with a pestle-type stone and mixed with a binding fluid. Each of the four language groups of the rainforest region had their own specific design elements.'
In 1941, the Yidinyji elder Fred Mundraby (c.1883–c.1943) was commissioned by the superintendent of Yarrabah Mission, C.G. Worm, to produce a sketchbook of designs of traditional rainforest shields. The first sketch in the book shows a similar design of radiating lines from a central boss. The sketchbook is in the collection of the Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, accession number ATS 294.