{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O669151"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O669151/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK2277/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK2277/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JK2277","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O669151/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O669151","accessionNumber":"14559","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 two children, one standing, the other sitting cross-legged on the floor. The red square sheet has been collaged at a diagonal onto a white backing sheet. The image has sections blocked in white, with details in black linework and stippling, and some parts coloured in blue. Both children depicted have short black hair, and are wearing stripy, tunic-like garments with mid-length sleeves. The seated child wears red, blue and white vertical stripes and has a small hoop earring; they hold a sheet of white paper, which they appear to be reading intently. The standing child wears red and white vertical stripes and sleeves with a zig-zag edge; they hold a fan of game cards in their right hand, while their left is on the other child’s head. Underneath the image is a white caption block; on this are five lines of verse lettered in black, written in a Filipino language. At the top of the red sheet is a marking which reads, ‘F/ 1’.","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":"Children and childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Children's clothes","id":"THES48979"},{"text":"Games","id":"THES48947"},{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2016JK2277"],"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":"533","id":"O506704"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"22.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/05/2025","earliest":"2025-05-13","latest":"2025-05-13"},"part":"Sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"22.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/05/2025","earliest":"2025-05-13","latest":"2025-05-13"},"part":"Sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Halina tayo mag laro fabia /\r\npag a aral ay pabayan mo muna /\r\nat icao ay batang bata pa, /\r\nsagot ni fabia y mag laro cana /\r\nmanunucsong ualang capara.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Come, let us play, Fabia /\r\nleave your studies behind for now /\r\nanyway, you are still very young /\r\nFabia replies, you go and play /\r\nunbeatable teaser.","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.\r\n\r\nFlaking has resulted in some letters being obscured; the full captions have been deciphered with reference to associated object (533)."},{"content":"'F / 1'","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 ‘1’ 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 two children, 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":["14559"],"accessionNumberNum":"14559","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}