Bamenda Ceramic Shield, Cameroon

A long white board, combed into chevrons from end to end.

This shield is Bamenda, from Cameroon, Central Africa, and is contemporary, in wood and kaolin. Kaolin, a soft white clay, has long been used across the Grassfields of Cameroon to brighten carved surfaces, and is widely linked with purity and protection. The form here is a long rounded rectangle, nearly parallel along its sides. Slanting ridges of white over black run in a herringbone pattern along a center line, reversing direction at the middle where the two halves meet. It is 10 inches wide and 46 high.

The pattern goes up, the pattern comes down, and the eye is happy to follow.