Igorot armour: A Bontoc dancing shield
 

Within my small Igorot collection there is a shield with the silhouette of a classical Bontoc shield (described in this forum), but without the wings on the surface and instead of the boss is a semi relief face of an ancestor with a very strong expression.
Dimensions: height 42 cm (16.5 in.), width 15 cm (6 in.), with a crustaceous patina.
I've got it 30 years ago from a very reliable ethnologist. So, for me it is a dancing or a shaman's shield, but I did not find something similar in the litarature nor in the big Igorot exhibition in Paris. The pics shows the shield in comparison with normal Bontoc shields and the shield in detail.

Any comments from our Luzon specialists?

Thanks Udo

JUST LOOKING AT IT ELIMINATES CHILD'S SHIELD OR TOURIST ITEM SMALL ENOUGH TO FIT IN A SUITCASE. I THINK THE BONTOK JUST USED THEIR REGULAR SHIELDS FOR DANCING SO SHAMANS SHIELD WOULD FIT. PERHAPS THE FACE REPRESENTED A POWERFUL ANCESTOR AND PROTECTED THE MEDICINE MAN FROM EVIL SPIRITS AS WELL AS SCARING EVIL SPIRITS AWAY FROM THE PATIENTS. THE PATINA AND WEAR WOULD ALSO INDICATE SOMETHING OLD THAT SPENT MOST OF ITS TIME HANGING IN A SMOKY HUT.
HOPEFULLY SOMEONE FAMILIAR WITH SHAMANISM IN THE PHILIPPINES CAN GIVE SOME GOOD INFORMATION ON YOUR INTERESTING ITEM.

Hi Udo,

Does it have a strong smell of smoke? The workmanship leads me to suspect that it was made by the Ifugao.

Nonoy

Hi Nonoy,
it had a strong smell when I bought it and 2000 and still have a smell of smoke, the same smell I register when I enter the room with my Ifugao basketry. Indeed the workmanship seems not have the subtle finesse of Bontoc shields. Thanks for the comment!
Udo

Like I said earlier, the workmanship looks familiar to me. It was crafted to look old and used, and was made for no other purpose but for sale. Sorry to say this.

Nonoy

Hi Nonoy,
thank you very much for your comment! I took me some time to follow the tracks of this shield. It has been collected in the beginning of the sixties last century in the cordillera by the German ethnologist Karl Pfadenauer (Author of "Ethnologie der marginalen Stämme", Munich 1996) and it stays with him until 1984, when I bought it. He was a heavy smoker and everything in his flat had a pipe smell. So I had a good feeling, but ...you are right, even before WW II objects had been produced for dealers. Thanks again
Udo