MEB 134-6

Research by: Àlex Tejero Bonache
Institució dipositària: Museu Etnològic i de Cultures del Món (MuEC)
Nº inventari institucional: MEB 134-6
Breu descripció institucional: Basketwork crown decorated with a toucan beak. (1972) The artefacts from the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines held at the Museum of Ethnology and World Cultures in Barcelona appear under two different signatures (134 and 103). However, the former includes artefacts from other places, such as Japan.
Advertiment: Definition given in the institution's own inventories, which we do not necessarily share and which in some cases may be offensive or the result of prejudice.
Material: Crown with toucan beak
Advertiment: Terms used by scientific and academic institutions to describe the material collections held by museums of ethnology, natural history or zoology, which overlook other non-Western forms of designation and classification. While we do not necessarily share these terms, we nevertheless use them in provenance research such as this.
Mesures: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Mètode d’adquisició: Deposit
Advertiment: This refers to the process of acquisition of the object/specimen by the institution currently holding it, and not to the first transfer it underwent from its original context. If you have information that may be relevant to the provenance of the object/specimen, please write to comunicacio@traficants.org.

Lloc d'adquisició: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: Data extracted from the documentary collections of the institution, which may be erroneous or incorrectly transcribed. The historical toponymy (often of colonial origin) has been retained to give coherence to the research.
Place of production/origin: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: Data extracted from the documentary collections of the institution, which may be erroneous or incorrectly transcribed. The historical toponymy (often of colonial origin) has been retained to give coherence to the research.
Collector: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: The personal or institutional names that appear, often associated with the colonial order, may be offensive or the result of prejudice. These references are used to give coherence to the research.
Donant: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: The personal or institutional names that appear, often associated with the colonial order, may be offensive or the result of prejudice. These references are used to give coherence to the research.
Classification group: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: Data extracted from the documentary collections of the institution, which may be erroneous or incorrectly transcribed, and which we do not necessarily share. We keep a terminology (tribe, people, ethnicity, race, country, etc.), created or manipulated during the colonial period, to give coherence to the research.
Holder of the legal property rights: Barcelona City Council
Advertiment: Reference is made to the holder of the rights recognized by the legal and juridical systems of the former colonial metropolises, regardless of the property rights that may emanate from the communities of origin.

Summary of results

This piece is characteristic of the Ilongot group in the province of Ifugao. We cannot specify the time or circumstances in which it was collected. However, taking into account the context of military domination to which the human groups that inhabited the area were subjected and the fact that this object has a ritual use, we can speculate about a possible pillage. According to anthropologist June Chayapan Prill-Brett—who collaborated in an activity within the framework of this research project—this crown was given to men when they became warriors, after cutting off the head of a war rival for the first time. As the anthropologist explained, the cry a person emits when his head is cut off would be similar to that of a toucan’s song, hence the beak. This object was probably outside the logic of exchange.

* This artefact is not listed in the inventories as part of the José Coronado collection.

Chronological reconstruction of provenance

In 1949, the Board of Museums transferred the collection to the Ethnology Museum of Barcelona, where it remains to this day.

Estimation of provenance

This object could be attributed to the Ilongot people, with roots in present-day Ifugao province.

Possible alternative classifications

–

Complementary sources

Bibliography:

Negociado de Estadística (1902). Anuari estadístic de la ciutat de Barcelona. Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona. <http://hdl.handle.net/11703/94371>.

Negociado de Estadística (1907). Anuari estadístic de la ciutat de Barcelona. Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona. <http://hdl.handle.net/11703/94376>.

Exposición General de las Islas Filipinas (1887). Catálogo de la exposición general de las Islas Filipinas celebrada en Madrid… el 30 de junio de 1887. Signatura: AHM/633416. Madrid: Biblioteca Nacional de España.