Material: Cotton, mother of pearl beads
Style: Southern Philippines
Size: Arms: Height 13 cm, Length 112 cm; Body: Height 39 cm, Width 36 cm
Order Number: MHSASPJ1

The  B`laan are a tribal community of Southern Mindanao. They live around Lake Sebu and other municipalities of South Cotabato and are one of the major non-Islamic tribal groups in the Southern Philippines. They carry out rituals for nearly everything because of their belief on the supremacy of the great Creator named Malu or D’wata. Men and women shave  their eyebrows and blacken their tongues and file their incisors.

The B’laan people share many cultural features with neighbouring groups. The quality and sophistication of their textiles was second to none in the region. Their name may be from derived from ‘bla’ meaning ‘opponent’ and ‘an’ meaning ‘people.’

It is sometimes difficult to tell B’laan and Bagobo textiles apart. The Bagobo people live on the south and east slopes of Mount Apo, the highest peak in the Philippines, down to the shore of the Davao Gulf in Mindanao. They concentrated their artistic creativity on clothes and personal adornment. They wore splendid garments during their ceremonies.

The B’laan were timid and there are very few photographs of them. They are famous for their beadwork and wear colourful costumes with beadwork accessories. 

This woman’s jacket/blouse is an old B’laan piece called an albong takmun, elaborately decorated with mother of pearl shells, which were highly prized. The pronounced pattern is geometrically abstract and the jacket is heavy. It is striking in its simple beauty. Women’s jackets are similar in shape to those of the men, but they are closed in front so that they have to be slipped on over the head. This is a woman’s jacket.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Southern Philippines Jacket appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Abaca, beads
Style: Southern Philippines
Size: Height 58 cm, Width 42 cm (waist)
Order Number: MHSASPT1

The Bagobo people live on the south and east slopes of Mount Apo, the highest peak in the Philippines, down to the shore of the Davao Gulf in Mindanao. They concentrated their artistic creativity on clothes and personal adornment. They wore splendid garments during their ceremonies.

Their society was stratified into four segments:  chieftains or datu, head hunting warriors or magani, commoners and slaves. Clothing was closely related to status and special cloths were reserved for chieftains and warriors.

There are now about ten or twelve thousand of them. They are short and skinny, broad-headed, and with a light reddish-brown complexion. They practise agriculture, hunt and fish. Their main crop is rice.

Abaca is the extracted fiber from banana leaves. The finest grade of hemp from abaca stalks is stripped, pounded, combed and then prepared for dyeing.

Bagobo men’s trousers (saroar) are nearly all of a similar cut, but they are made from a variety of abaca fabrics. Sometimes it is plain, but more often stripes or checks. The added embroidery, appliqué and beadwork make every pair of trousers a unique work of art.

The large gusset in the crotch is typical of Middle Eastern tailoring and is an example of Islamic Mindanao dress.

There is an example of a very similar one in the Fowler Museum of Cultural History in From the Rainbow’s Varied Hue, Textiles of the Southern Philippines, edited by Roy W. Hamilton, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1998, page 22, but this one has more elaborate decoration.

Late 19th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Southern Philippines Trousers appeared first on Murni's in Bali.