ABOUT THE WORK

The salakót is a traditional wide-brimmed Philippine hat often made of either rattan or nito, a black vine, and is a Filipino traditional headdress similar to the iconic conical hat found in neighboring Southeast and East Asian countries. Though normally worn by farmers, wealthy and landed Christian Filipinos and mestizos, especially the members of the ruling class called the principalía, began embellishing their hats. Some made their salakót of more prized materials like cow horn or tortoise shell and adorned it with an ornate capping spike crafted in silver or even gold. Scattered over the surface of the headgear were embossed and chased silver plaques of varying sizes, while around the rim were hung pendants consisting of silver coins or beads. Many depictions of town mayors aka gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay or village headmen would portray these colonial public functionaries as wearing ornate salakots. This particular salakot is made of very finely woven rattan topped by a silver cap with a base embossed with a central sunburst pattern of radiating ribs bordered by a frieze of finely chased vertical stylized flowers with leafy scrolls emanating from its pistil. A outer border alternating with the flowers is chased with pairs of hanging bay leaves with leaf buds between them. Ornamenting the outer edge are leaf swags resembling ferns that form a multi-lobed pattern around the cap. An urn-shaped finial, decorated with rings of beads around the knopf and the lower and upper part of the body, has its foot chased with a frieze consisting of a simple flower with six petals alternating with a leaf scroll. The entire shoulder of the urn is chased with four larger and more elaborate flowers with leafy sprays between each. An attenuated spike tops the cap. Scattered around the surface of the salakot are tiny silver appliqués in the form of chased leafy S-scrolls terminating with a stylized flower with pin wheel petals. The bottom of the salakot is decorated with a series of silver cut outs. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.