| Catalog Description |
object: head ornament | Material: Bill of Kalaw bird [Rufous hornbill - Buceros hydrocorax], wood, aluminum, plastic, brass, cotton, deer hair, yarn. | Description: headdress is beak-shaped. Beak made of red Ka-law bird bill pressed together so sides and top are flat forming a T-shaped section. Beak has 2 points: large point curving down; small point extending from flattened top. Large point tipped with aluminum, ending in tuft of deer hair, yarn, and long chain with red plastic pendant. Top and one side of aluminum tip engraved in zig-zag pattern. Seam between aluminum and bill material finished with red and blue yarn with yellow plastic pendant. Sides of large point reinforced with curved strips of aluminum. Small point tipped in 2 tufts of deer hair and red yarn, and 2 long brass chains with red pendants. Behind beak is apparatus of 3 wooden slats extending back from top and sides of beak. Slats narrow in center, flare at ends. Top slat and top of beak form spear shape. 8 white plastic but-tons in Y-design along top. Seam between side slats and bill material finished in serated aluminum strips. Buttons along sides; one missing on left side. Slats are all edged with scalloped aluminum. Side slats braced toward back wtih brass tube. pendants hanging from lower edges. Long red strips of cotton cloth tied in holes and knotted at extreme back ends. Acc. collector: "This decoration is only worn by a head-hunter". |
