Brass Neck Adornment

This brass neck adornment was not only decorative but also had a body care function: two objects, tied with brass wire to an approximately 52 cm long chain, served, according to :he collector, as "ear spoons" (8 cm long) and tweezers (5 cm long) for pulling facial and body hair (also see Worcester 1906: 846) It was worn by men and originates from the rancheria Kabayan. The surface of ear spoons and tweezers was punched with ornaments. The chain was made in "squared loop-in-loop-technique," also called kwatro kantos (squared pattern). Villegas (1983: 74, 169) discussed this as a "weaving" -technique which integrates fine metallic wires into a "woven" thread, similar to "bejuquilo" (bejuco) rattan threads. Copper from mines north of Benguet was also used to produce such items (Worcester 1906: 848). (Ursula Brandl-Straka 2009: 33)

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Map Vienna Museum of Ethnology

Identifier

MVW42036

Origin

Northern Luzon, Benguet; Ibaloi

Materials

Brass

Physical Dimensions

L60 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.

Villegas, Ramon. 1983. Kayamanan. The Philippine Jewelry Tradition. Manila. Central Bank of the Philippines.

Worcester, Dean C. 1906. The Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon. Philippine Journal of Science 1(8) 791-875.

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

“Brass Neck Adornment,” Mapping Philippine Material Culture, accessed April 23, 2024, https://philippinestudies.uk/mapping/items/show/6020.

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