Shield

Oblong wooden shield divided into thirds by horizontal strips of bamboo. Incised black geometric designs in zones which echo the outside contours. Tufts of white horsehair along sides and top and around central boss. A dress shield, carried at festivals by Bagobo men of southern Mindanao, in the Philippines. This shield was collected by two sisters from Worcester, Massachusetts named Sarah and Elizabeth Metcalf, who were inspired by their encounter with Bagobo at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904 to move to Mindanao, where they made an extensive collection of textiles, ornaments, weapons, tools, musical instruments and other artifacts. This shield is one of over a thousand Bagobo objects purchased from the Metcalf sisters by the Penn Museum.