French Trophy Skull Museum Model

Half the skull is wrapped in a cloth turban, bound with cord, and the other half is not shy.

This trophy skull museum model is from France and dates to the 20th century. It is cloth, cowrie and clay, of Dayak origin, from Borneo. Among some Dayak groups, headhunting and the keeping of skulls were historically bound up with ideas of power, and models like this reproduce such objects. Here the cranium is wrapped in pale cloth, tied down with twisted cord. The face is modeled in dark cracked clay, with a cowrie shell at the brow and an open jaw showing teeth. It stands on a black metal mount, 9 inches deep and 7 high.

Wrapped up carefully, as though for a long journey.