Ifugao Headhunting Skull Trophy Set — Two Heads, One Head & Boar Skulls

Description

For centuries the tribesmen of the Cordillera stalked their enemies, took their heads, and turned them into trophy skulls that won the head-taker the respect of his fellows and the admiration of women. Of the six Cordillera tribes that took heads, only the Ifugao displayed them in works of assembled sculpture. Head-hunting raids, sanctioned and carried out by entire villages, continued until 1913, when American forces governing the mountain tribes after the Spanish-American War finally persuaded village leaders to give up communal decapitation — though unsanctioned individual head-taking continued well after 1950, with some sources suggesting it persisted into the late 1970s.

This is a rare set of Ifugao headhunting trophies said to have come from a single Ifugao house. Provenance: Ifugao people of North Luzon, Philippines; private collection of William Galvin and Harry Kod-oy. Age: circa 1900s.

Two heads: almost the same size, one head "changit," mounted on 35" x 9" wood with one boar skull. One head: approximately H 8.5" x L 6.5" x W 5.5", mounted on 28" x 9" wood with two boar skulls. An unmatched skull mounted on 16" x 7" wood. A boar skull approximately 13" in length. Can be sold in pairs.