Bamenda Ceramic Shield, Cameroon

Black and white stripes run the length of it, then meet in an X at the middle.

This shield is Bamenda, from Cameroon, Central Africa, and is contemporary, in wood and kaolin. In the Cameroon Grassfields, kaolin, a white clay, is widely associated with purity and ancestral blessing, and appears on masks, figures and regalia. The shield is an elongated hexagon, wide at the waist and tapering toward each end. Bands of white kaolin alternate with black across the upper and lower halves, while the center panel turns the lines into a crisp radiating X. It is 11 inches wide and 44.25 high.

Op art arrived in Cameroon without needing an invitation.