Resource Spotlight | “Naga Treasures: Tribal Adornment from the Nagas, India and Myanmar” by Manfred Giehmann | Foreword by Antonio J. Guerreiro

 

© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

 
 

Naga Treasures

Tribal Adornment from the Nagas
India and Myanmar

by Manfred Giehmann

Foreword by Antonio J. Guerreiro

 
 
 
 

Impressive chest necklace with five strands of large oval carnelian beads, blue bead accents, an outer row of long brass trumpet bead accents and bone spacers. The back row of cut chank shells provides a counterweight.
L : 62 cm. Worn by Ao women.

Above: A conical cane hat with dyed goat hair and several boar tusks. H: 42 cm (including feather). Worn by Khiamniungan.

Left: A round and two conical hats with red dyed goat hair or black bear skin. H: 15 to 20 cm. Various groups.

Two pairs and four single round shell ear ornaments with poker-work. L: 6 to 7 cm Mostly worn by Konyak headtakers.

Rare, cut chank shell necklace mounted on a plaited rattan cord. L: 47 cm Possibly Sangtam.

Double beaded strand necklace with a pair of teeth carved from bone set in copper wire and side spirals as accents. L: 42 cm, teeth 11 cm

Rare original man’s headdress ornament with Hornbill feathers and jaw pieces decorated with red seeds, hair fringes and a brass disk in the centre of the cane hat. Total height including feathers and hair: 180 cm, W: 48 cm. Worn exclusively by the Tangkhul.

Ancient cast bronze bracelet. D: 10 cm Opposite above: Brass bracelet. D: 9 cm Both decorated with two Hornbills and double spiral motifs.

Orange glass bead necklace with brass bells as spacers. The quadruple head brass pendant has small ear ornaments. L: 34 cm, heads: 7 cm

Display of six brass fishtail necklaces of various shapes and sizes. Worn by successful head takers. L: 30 to 40 cm

 

© Wellcome Collection

© Wellcome Collection

© Wellcome Collection

© Wellcome Collection

 
 

Antonio J. Guerreiro

 
 
 

Dr. Antonio J. Guerreiro received his Ph.D at EHESS in Paris (1985).  After initially focusing on architectural, social and cultural anthropology studies, he later gained insight and expertise in museography. Dr. Guerreiro has researched Hindu-Buddhist iconography and architecture in Southeast Asia, and has since the 1980’s extensively published on Malay-Indonesian ethnic cultures with a special focus on Sumatra and Borneo. While lecturing in the field of material culture studies,- i.e. vernacular architecture and sculpture - Dr. Guerreiro has worked as a consultant for various museographical projects in France and abroad besides curating/co-curating diverse exhibitions. During the 1990s, he was a visiting scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Tokyo.

He is currently a Senior Research associate at the Institut de Recherches sur l’Asie (IrASIA, CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France) and a member of ICOM-France (Unesco-Paris). He is also Secretary-General of the Society of Euroasiatic Studies at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris. In 2017-2018 he was a Research Fellow at the Sarawak Museum Campus Project (SMCP) and Heritage Trail project in Kuching (Sarawak, Malaysia). Dr. Guerreiro is still doing consultancy for the Museum while conducting research on woodcarving traditions, museum collections and the conservation of monumental structures of the Orang Ulu peoples of Sarawak. He is also actively engaged in researching colonial photography in Borneo (Sarawak, Sabah, Brunei, Kalimantan). 

 
 
 

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