This is a rare 19th Century Southern Plains Kiowa – Comanche Native American Indian polychrome painted parfleche war shield from the ex-collection of Bruce VanLandingham. The piece is from the Kiowa – Comanche Indians of Northern Texas and shows a bent tree branch frame with old brain-tanned rawhide parfleche with buckskin wetted and stretched over it. The front of the war shield is polychrome mineral pigment painted with a yellow ocher background with a center round green adornment with integral red strip and black sun raw like accents. The front of the shield also shows three drops with the center of the shield having strips of old trade clothe and muslin with the two outside drops being green ocher dyed or painted long hand cut fringe. The shield shows a nice overall well-preserved condition with some slight loss to the paint from age and use with minor holes in a few spots as shown. The back of the shield shows a sewn sinew hide construction with the original arm strap handle still attached. The shield shows a good age and use with some discoloration and staining. The war shield was likely used continually after the Indian Wars era as a Kiowa Dance Shield during ceremonies into the early 1900’s. For similar yellow painted Kiowa War Shields from the 19th Century, see Baldwin (2002) “Indian Guns, Spears and Shields of the American Frontier”, and Taylor (2001) “Native American Weapons.” Provenance: From the previous collection of Bruce VanLandingham of Sundog Fine Art Bozeman, Montana. Bruce VanLandingham was a pillar in the American Indian collection community and a respected expert. Along with being an avid collector Bruce also was the sole owner of Sundog Fine Art Gallery in Bozeman which was both part museum and gallery. The piece was purchased directly from Bruce in the mid-2000’s at Santa Fe by the current collector/owner along with about 10 other fantastic items. Bruce VanLandingham purchased the piece from a large collection of Kiowa Comanche material out of North Texas. The piece has been pictured from the upcoming 2019 book to be published, “Rare American Indian Weapons Volume 2” by Mark Francis. The shield is truly a wonderful authentic piece from a very notable collector being well museum quality preserved. The shield measures 16 inches across.