{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O669145"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O669145/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK2386/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK2386/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JK2386","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O669145/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O669145","accessionNumber":"14565","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This watercolour, made by an unknown artist from the Philippines, is among the earliest objects to enter the V&A’s collection. One of eight by the same hand, the works directly correspond to another set (528 to 535), which were made at a similar time.\r\n\r\nThe artworks relate to a genre called<i> tipos del país</i> (‘types of the country’), popularised in nineteenth-century Manila. These small watercolours, depicting local people in ‘typical’ dress, were fashionable souvenirs for foreign traders in the latter part of the Spanish colonial period (1565–1898). Conventionally painted on white paper, this example reveals an unusual technique, with vivid colours on a prepared red ground.\r\n\r\n<i>Tipos del país</i> were often lettered with titles that flattened subjects into reductive socio-ethnic categories. The Tagalog language captions here are untypical, offering a distinctive counterpoint. In lines of rhyming verse, they add a playful tone and more nuanced, often humorous, layer of personality. Some words are transliterated using Spanish spellings, which, along with the mixing of native and European fashions, exposes legacies of Empire in the form and fabric of these objects. The works evidence Manila as a cosmopolitan Southeast Asian capital – and a complex fusion of East and West – in the 1800s, as it is today. ","physicalDescription":"Watercolour with ink on a prepared red ground, depicting a woman in a kneeling position by a large blue box; she is using a cutting tool, which she holds in her right hand. The red sheet has been collaged onto a white backing sheet; it has some sections blocked in white and blue, with details in black linework and stippling, and some parts decorated with yellow and green. The woman has black hair tied back and adorned with a <i>payneta</i>, and yellow hoop earrings. She wears a long, plaid-patterned skirt <i>(saya)</i> in yellow and red, a white and red striped long-sleeved blouse<i> (baro)</i>, and a white triangular shawl <i>(pañuelo</i> or <i>alampay</i>) over her left shoulder; her feet are bare. The blue box has yellow decoration on the sides and is before the woman to our left; on top is a tray of neatly piled green and yellow pebble-shaped objects, probably betel-nut or <i>buyo</i> prepared for chewing. Underneath the image is a white caption block with green decoration around it; on it are five lines of verse lettered in black, written in a Filipino language. At the top left of the red sheet is a marking which reads, ‘F/2’.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"lead white","id":"AAT13754"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Costumes","id":"THES269529"},{"text":"Figures","id":"THES274372"},{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2016JK2386"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC (VA)","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"O","shelf":"7","box":"D"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}],[{"text":"drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Manila","id":"x35066"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Philippines","id":"x30022"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. mid to late 1800s","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Corresponding watercolours (528 to 535) were made between 1835-1852. This set is likely to have been made at a similar time, possibly slightly later."}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"529","id":"O506708"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"19.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/05/2025","earliest":"2025-05-13","latest":"2025-05-13"},"part":"Sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"23.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/05/2025","earliest":"2025-05-13","latest":"2025-05-13"},"part":"Sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Marami na ang mag hihicho /\r\npa ano itong pagca buhay co /\r\nuala nang bumile dito /\r\ndi man mag tubo cahit ano /\r\nmariquit na damit ang ibig co'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"There are many who patronise ready-made-dresses /\r\nHow is my livelihood? /\r\nNo one buys here anymore /\r\nNothing grows /\r\nA gorgeous dress is what I love","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"The caption seems to be mainly in Tagalog, with some ‘Hispanic’ words or spellings from a transliteration using the Spanish alphabet. This is a loose translation and not verbatim."},{"content":"'F / 2'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Markings at the top of the red sheet; the ‘F’ at the top, with the ‘2’ directly beneath this, separated by a short line."}],"objectHistory":"One of eight watercolours (14558 to 14565) collectively titled 'Manilla' [sic] in the accessions register, and described as a 'series of eight figures illustrating trades etc'. These watercolours directly correspond to another set, also in the collection (528 to 535), which are titled 'Costume of Manilla' [sic] and described as 'a series of eight coloured drawings by a native artist (?)' in the register. The earlier accessioned series is housed with a note indicating that they were formerly in the Marlborough House collection.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour depicting a woman preparing betel-nut, watercolour and ink on red ground, probably Manila, Philippines, c. mid to late 1800s","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Juan, C. ‘Everyday Satire: A Newly Found Tipos del País from 19th-Century Manila’ [online], in <i>Mapping Philippine Material Culture</i>, Philippine Studies at SOAS, University of London, 2025.","id":"AUTH411471"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["14565"],"accessionNumberNum":"14565","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}