Spoon with anthropomorphic Ifugao handle, North Luzon, Phili - Lot 28

Lot n° 28
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Estimation :
1000 - 1200 EUR
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Result : 1 100EUR
Spoon with anthropomorphic Ifugao handle, North Luzon, Phili - Lot 28
Spoon with anthropomorphic Ifugao handle, North Luzon, Philippines Early 20th century Wood L. 27 cm Provenance : Bernhard Floedl Collection, Austria The first objects to arrive from the Philippines were brought back by geographers and scientists such as Alfred Marche, Alexander Schadenberg and Adriaan van der Valk. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Laura Watson Benedict and Fay-Cooper Cole brought back very important collections, dedicated respectively to the National Museum of Natural History in New York and the Field Museum in Chicago. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, mountain dwellers sold some of their most precious objects to the few collectors and dealers who had traveled the Cordillera Central, in particular the rice deities known as bülul, as well as everyday objects such as spoons. These works, carved exclusively by the Ifugao, followed a precise ritual and celebrated the sowing and harvesting of rice. Their striking stylistic variations, ranging from naturalism to a more cubist style, testify to their meticulous and accomplished technique as much as to their rich stylistic ingenuity. Renowned for their subtly decorated handles, Ifuago spoons are a favorite among sculptors, as shown here. The remarkable movement of the figure depicted is magnified by the subtle reflections of light on its superb deep black patina, attesting to the repeated care lavished on the object using animal fat. Weightlessness and lightness emerge, rendered by the elongation of the bent legs, and the tiptoeing of the feet, which can be guessed to have melted into the handle. The movement of the legs is matched by that of the arms, folded in gentle curves, thin and disproportionately large, accentuating the gestures of the hands delicately placed on the ears.
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