Tooth Adornment With Case

Schadenberg noted about these two pieces in his collection register: "A small bejuco case, containing a metallic panel which Igorotten women wear as an adornment in the mouth to cover the teeth. The rich have a gold panel, the poorer use brass or bronze. Rancheria Cabayan, Bengued."' Complementing this information, Worcester wrote in his 1906 opus: "[ ... ] Some women of Kabayan have thin bands of solid beaten gold which are worn between their lips and front teeth, completely closing their mouths. These gold bands are no longer made, the ones which exist having been handed down by the ancestors of the present generation" (1906: 821). This particular tooth adornment consists of a strip of brass sheet metal. The small case for safe-keeping is woven from split rattan in diagonal netting and twill weave; it features a slip-over cover and is fastened with a two dimensional plaited rattan ring (approximately 1.5 cm wide). (Ursula Brandl-Straka 2009: 33)

1 German original: "Ein Bejucotaschchen darin eine Metallplatte welche zum Schmuck von den Igororinnen im Mund gerragen wird, so dass selbe die Zahne verdeckt. Die Reichen haben die Platte aus Gold, die Armeren aus Messing oder Bronze. Rancherie Cabayan, Bengued (Schadenberg, register, collector file, MVW archives).

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Map Vienna Museum of Ethnology

Identifier

MVW 31960 and 31961

Origin

Northern Luzon, Benguet; lbaloi

Materials

Brass, Rattan

Physical Dimensions

9.5 x 1.5 cm; 6 x 8 x 3 cm

Provenance

Schadenberg; before 1889 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 1889

Display status

Not on Display

References

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

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“Tooth Adornment With Case,” Mapping Philippine Material Culture, accessed April 20, 2024, https://philippinestudies.uk/mapping/items/show/6053.

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