Snake Bone Necklace ( Tsuli )

Fabricated from the vertebrae of a snake and several conch shells, this necklace is threaded with a vegetable fiber string. The components were cleaned and dried, sometimes also smoked. This kind of adornment is widespread in the mountain provinces of northern Luzon. Most numerous it is among the Kalinga (termed duli) and among the Bontok (termed tsuli). This piece, according to the collector, originates from Sagada, where women wore it as a necklace. There is evidence, however, that such strings were also worn as head adornment. Worn by married women only, they were considered to be exceptionally powerful. Supposed to boost fertility, but also to protect against malevolent spirits, poison, or malicious magic, the necklaces were worn by women always when they were outside the village (Maramba 1998: 50). Wearing such adornments while working in the fields was supposed to protect against strokes of lightning; placed on the abdomen of a parturient, the string was said to safeguard an effortless and secure birth (Rodgers 1985: 303, 335, Fig. 190). (Ursula Brandl-Straka 2009: 42)

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Map Vienna Museum of Ethnology

Identifier

MVW42010

Origin

Northern Luzon, Sagada; Bontok

Materials

Bone, shell

Physical Dimensions

L29 cm

Provenance

Schadenberg; before 1891 Alexander Schadenberg (1851-1896) was a chemist and ethnographer, and a natural history enthusiast. Born in Breslau, Germany, he studied chemistry and botany. After receiving his Ph.D., he worked as the assistant director of the Potassic Salt Works in Stassfurt. In 1876, he went to worked as a chemist for the drug company Pablo Sartorius in Manila and in 1879, illness forced him to move back to Breslau. From 1881 to 1883, Schadenberg and his friend Otto Koch visited southern Mindanao to carry out ethnographic and linguistic studies, basing themselves in the Bagobo village of Sibulan. There, they also made ethnographic and natural history collections. Upon their return to Germany Schadenberg spent several years working on his collections, publishing, lecturing and corresponding with museums and anthropological societies throughout Europe. Schadenberg later returned to the Philippines and became a partner of Pablo Sartorius. He settled with his family in Vigan in 1885 and continued his excursions among the native people of the islands. After Schadenberg's death in 1896, his collections passed to several museums in Dresden, Vienna, Berlin, and Leiden.

Acquisition Date

before 1891

Display status

Not on Display

References

The Philippines: Museum of Ethnology, Vienna : Early Collections. Vienna: Museum für Volkerkünde, 2009. Print.

Maramba, Robert 1998. Form and Splendor : Personal Adornment of Northern Luzon Ethnic Groups, Philippines. Exhibition Catalog. Metropolitan Museum, Manila.

Rodgers, Susan 1995 Power and Gold: Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva.

Official Website

https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/

Collection

Vienna Museum of Ethnology

Source

Translated from German by Google Translate Record accessed March 2021

Cite this Page

“Snake Bone Necklace ( Tsuli ),” Mapping Philippine Material Culture, accessed April 26, 2024, https://philippinestudies.uk/mapping/items/show/6016.

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