Kayapó Ceremonial Headdress And Original Photograph From The Film Raoni

Kayapó people (Mebêngôkre), Xingu region, Brazilian Amazon
Jean-Pierre Dutilleux collection

Set comprising:
- an important Kayapó ceremonial headdress made of plant fibers and feathers;
- an original motion picture exploitation photograph of the film RAONI, printed on period Kodak photographic paper and stamped on the reverse with "Les Films Strand - Lyon".

DESCRIPTION

Rare ethnographic and documentary set taken directly from the collection assembled by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux during his field missions in Amazonia.

The headdress consists of a flexible structure made of plant fibers entirely covered with black feathers with deep blue highlights, underlined by a light border and surmounted by a central cluster of long blue feathers. Its assembly reveals a complex work of assembly associating ligatures, seams and regular superimpositions of feather layers.

The object presents the traditional characteristics of the large Kayapó ceremonial headdresses intended for collective events, ceremonies and the affirmation of social status.

The set is accompanied by an original period photograph made for the broadcast of the film RAONI (1978), Jean-Pierre Dutilleux's major work dedicated to the indigenous peoples of Amazonia.

This old print, made on Kodak photographic paper and retaining its "Les Films Strand - Lyon" distribution stamp, shows a Kayapó chief wearing a headdress that corresponds particularly closely to the preserved copy: same general architecture, same top bundle of blue feathers, same peripheral light border and, above all, same technique for mounting the sewn feather layers.

A direct comparison between the photograph and the object reveals remarkable similarities right down to the manufacturing details. The observable differences are naturally explained by almost half a century of ageing, handling and storage.

While an absolute identification cannot be asserted in the absence of nominative documentation, the direct Jean-Pierre Dutilleux provenance, combined with these particularly precise material concordances, suggests that this may be the headdress shown in the photograph.

PROVENANCE

Collection Jean-Pierre Dutilleux.
Field missions in Amazonia.

EXHIBITION

"Monde Premier"

STATUS

Headdress showing localized old alterations due to former insect activity, now stabilized.

These alterations affect neither the overall structure, nor the cohesion of the mounting, nor the aesthetic reading of the whole.

Photograph in good condition with normal traces related to its age.

INTEREST

The combination of a field object and a potentially associated old photographic document constitutes a particularly rare set.

Beyond the intrinsic quality of the headdress, this set offers an exceptional testimony to Jean-Pierre Dutilleux's Amazonian collecting and missions, as well as to the history of the RAONI film.