1913.77.8

Collection type

Object

Description

Rice spoon with handle carved in human form. [DCF Court Team 6/11/2002]

Geographical reference

Philippines

Asia > South-eastern Asia > Philippines

Northern Luzon [Nueva Viscaya]

Cultural groups

Ifugao

Person

Field collector William Arthur Wilfred Turnbull

PRM source Mrs Turnbull

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1913

Date collected

By 1913

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1913

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Process Carved

Dimensions

Length: max 173 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1913.77.8

Research and responses

There are also some Mrs Turnbull pieces which came in via Henry Balfour in 1939 see 1938.34.509 and 1938.34.510 [AP 23/6/2000]

In 1913 the Pitt Rivers Museum purchased objects from one Mrs Turnbull, who also sold material to the British Museum and the Horniman in 1914. It is thought that the field collector – actually her son – was William Arthur Wilfred (“Wilfrid”) Turnbull, an American lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary in the first decade of the twentieth century, and who spent time among the Ilongot people, notably from 1909-1910 during the William Jones Affair. He died in 1944, possibly from myocarditis while interned in a Japanese camp. Information provided by Samantha Chen as part of her SOAS Education Co-creator Internship, during which she researched the Philippine collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum and added data to the SOAS Mapping Philippine Material Culture project (https://philippinestudies.uk/mapping/collections/show/275).

Search terms: Food and Drink, Figure, Spoon, Food Accessory