A Fine Old Ifugao Bulul Figure Luzon Island, Philippines Early 20th Century

This fine old Bulul Figure was sensitively carved by a master carver, depicting a standing female figure with a child holding onto her back, carved from a single piece of traditional Nara Wood the figure has an excellent patina consistent with significant age and appropriate ritual use.

Regular ceremonies presided over by the village priest were held throughout each stage of the rice production process, leading to regular handling and offerings being made to the statues.

In the book ” Philippines: An Archipelago of Exchange,” in the section on Bulul Sculptures is described with the words “serene & austere, powerful and quiet “.

Such figures were carved by the Ifugao as protective figures to be installed in their rice fields and rice granaries to protect the rice crop and harvest from evil spirits. The figures are highly stylised representations of ancestor-associated Rice Gods and were believed to attract the presence and thus power of ancestral rice god spirits.

Bululs were handed down to the first child of a family. Usually, they were carved as pairs, one male and one female, but often the two become separated when sold to local or European art collectors.

Provenance: The Hugh Gallagher Collection, Australia: acquired from William Beyer in Manila in 1975.

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art

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