{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O669152"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O669152/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK2276/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK2276/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JK2276","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O669152/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O669152","accessionNumber":"14558","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 young man seated, reading a book. The red square sheet has been collaged at a diagonal onto a white backing sheet. The image has sections blocked in white, details in black linework and stippling, and some parts coloured in yellow and green. The man depicted is light-skinned with short black hair, and sits on a chair which has wide armrests, floral finials, and a rattan-woven back. He wears a white, long-sleeved <i>barong</i> with a standing collar and half-placket with three yellow buttons; a pair of green, white and yellow vertical-striped trousers; and a pair of yellow shoes. Underneath the image is a white caption block in the shape of a heart; 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, ‘B./ 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":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2016JK2276"],"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":"528","id":"O506709"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"25.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/05/2025","earliest":"2025-05-13","latest":"2025-05-13"},"part":"Sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/05/2025","earliest":"2025-05-13","latest":"2025-05-13"},"part":"Sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Ycip yáta nang aquing ynà /\r\nitong pag a áral coy totoo na /\r\nhindi nia na aalaman pa /\r\nna aco y may trato na /\r\nsa isang dalágang maganda.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"I assume, my mother thought /\r\nthat my study is now for real /\r\nshe doesn’t know yet /\r\nthat I already have a relationship /\r\nwith a beautiful maiden.","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 (528). "},{"content":"'B. / 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 ‘B.’ 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 a man reading, 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":["14558"],"accessionNumberNum":"14558","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}