Bulul Female Figure (rice deity)
19th century
Originally, this couple stood looking out over a landscape filled with rice terraces. Their presence helped rice grains multiply and grow. In return, priests would activate the bulul with prayers and a taste of the harvest feasts. Rice, considered the most sacred of foods, was stored in closely guarded granaries. With such ceremonial cycles and ecologically sound management of water and land, the Ifugao have prevailed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years in northern Luzon.
Wood, beads, hair, natural deposits
15 3/4 x 5 x 4 1/2 in. (40 x 12.7 x 11.4cm)
Gift of Georgia Schwartz Sales
2005.182
Provenance: Jonathan Bassan, 1977-1983 until late 1980s-early 1990s; [Thomas Murray, Mill Valley, California]; sold to Georgia Schwartz Sales, San Francisco, California, ca. late 1980s-early 1990s; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2005
