BONTOC ARMLET
The Philippines, Northern Luzon
Boar tusks, rattan, wood, and human hair, circa 1850
3 3/8 x 3 7/8 inches

HIS armlet is surmounted by a particularly well carved image of a seated figure. This example is, to our eyes, superior in quality and evocative power to those reproduced in S. Roger's, Power and Gold, Geneva, 1985, pages 267 and 310.

The people of the Bontoc region of northern Luzon, the Igorots, were described by Hiram Bingham in the great 11th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, as one of the wildest of the native peoples, among whom head hunting was then a common practice. This object is a rare and powerful example of art from an indigenous source relatively fresh to the world of collecting, an area in which it is still possible for the discerning eye to spot and acquire a masterpiece.

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