Belt
(Surigao Treasure, Surigao del
Sur province, ca. 10th to 13th century, 5.5 by 68.3
cm, 564 grams), Ayala Museum Collection (Photo
by Neal Oshima)
|
Perhaps,
the most common pre-colonial Philippine artifact is pottery, often in shards
and rarely whole. Pottery was the most popular terracotta craft in the country
during ancient times and it survives until today. Arguably, Philippine pottery,
both ancient- and modern-time, has not achieved a level of sophistication nor
exhibited intricacies comparable with other civilizations’ in the world. But
what many do not know is that some peoples in pre-colonial Philippines were adept at metalworks,
particularly in gold, and their works display amazing craftsmanship and
artfulness. Many pieces of this metalwork in gold have been unearthed through
the years, and the most significant collections of these are at the Ayala Museum and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
or Central Bank of the Philippines.
More known is the exhibit “Gold of Ancestors” at the Ayala
Museum in Makati City, which carries 1,059 gold objects dating to the 10th to
13th century—ornaments, implements, containers and ritual sculptures. The array
is astounding and the handiwork equally astonishing. The exhibit itself is
well-designed with entrances resembling vault doors, glass floors showing small
gold pieces underneath them, and magnifying glasses that can be drawn out to
examine the intricate designs.
Now, Ayala Museum is bringing some of the pieces,
together with pieces from BSP, to New York, United States, for a groundbreaking exhibit
organized by the Asia Society, an educational organization which promotes
mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and
institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context.
Titled “Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms,”
the exhibit will show over 120 gold objects at the Asia Society Museum at 725
Park Avenue, New York City, from Sept. 11, 2015, to early January 2016.
The curators, Adriana Proser, senior curator for traditional
Asian art of Asia Society, and Florina Capistrano-Baker, former director of the
Ayala Museum, said the objects in the exhibit were discovered over the past 40
years in different sites in the Philippines, but the exhibit will focus on the
ancient polity known as Butuan and other political entities in Samar, Cebu,
Leyte, Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque and Luzon. These gold objects were
collected and saved from being melted by the BSP and collectors Leandro and
Cecilia Locsin. The Ayala Museum gold collection is from the Locsin
collection. The BSP and Ayala Museum collections will be augmented by
contributions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musee du Quai Branly of
Paris, the Lilly Library in Indiana and the Locsin family for the
“Philippine Gold” exhibit, which will mark the first time such collections are
displayed together and the first time in the United States.
“The amazing gold works in the exhibition attest to robust
cultural connections and maritime trade in Southeast Asia during what was an early Asian
economic boom. The diverse and sophisticated gold treasures are evidence of a
lost history of prosperity and achievement of early communities in the Philippines that flourished between the 10th and
13th centuries, long before Spanish contact and colonization,” wrote the
curators in their remarks.
BSP Governor Amando Maglalang Tetangco, Jr. said that “this
exhibit is an excellent opportunity to showcase our pre-colonial cultural
heritage...This is an opportune time for other people to know more about the Philippines and get to know the rich cultural
heritage of our country.”
Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando
Zobel de Ayala agreed: “It will give Americans and visitors to New York the opportunity to get to know more
about our rich culture and I have no doubt that it will also give
Filipino-Americans great pride to see these pieces from their country.”
“While the Philippines has a lot of press coming out on
economic issues, we thought there could also be a cultural story,” Doris
Magsaysay-Ho, Asia Society Philippine chairman, said. “These artifacts are also
very little known scholarship-wise, so with the opportunity to bring them to New York, we are holding symposiums that place
the collection in the whole realm of historical scholarship in the Austronesian
context.”
The Asia Society Museum has lined up different events in a
program to accompany the “Philippine Gold” exhibit. It will start with an
opening gala dinner on Sept. 10, followed by academic lectures on Hindu and
Buddhist art traces in pre-colonial Philippine gold works and early Asian gold,
a theater production titled Alamat: Stories of Philippine Gold by the
Ma-Yi Theater Compnay, a rondalla performance, a performance by Grace
Nono and a pop-up Philippine food bar. There will also be design exhibitions
and a film festival.
For more information, visit www.AsiaSociety.org/Philippines2015.
To arrange a group tour of this special exhibition in New York, call + 1
212-327-9237 or e-mail philippinegold@asiasociety.org.
Ear ornament (Eastern Visayas, ca. 10th to 13th century, 4.2 cm in diameter, 0.9 cm thickness, 7.4 grams), Ayala Museum Collection (Photo by Neal Oshima) |
Ear ornaments (Aras-asan, Surigao del Sur, ca. 10th to 13th century, 11.7 by 7.5 cm, 11.5 by 8 cm, 27 grams, 27 grams), Ayala Museum Collection (Photo by Neal Oshima) |
Ear ornaments (Butuan, Agusan del Norte, ca. 10th to 13th century, 6.7 by 4.5 by 8 cm, 9 by 3.5 by 8 cm, 54.5 grams, 57 grams), Ayala Museum Collection (Photo by Neal Oshima) |
Repousse arm ornaments, set of four, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Collection |
Waist cord weights, set of two (ca. 10th to 13th Century, Surigao Treasure), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Collection |
Bangle with semi-precious stones (gold, garnet and glass; ca. 10th to 13th century, Surigao Treasure), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Collection |
Waistband, complex loop-in-loop weave with a rounded selvage effect (ca. 10th to 13th century, Surigao Treasure), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Collection |
"Gold of Ancestors" exhibit at the Ayala
Museum in Makati City
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"Gold of Ancestors" exhibit at the Ayala
Museum in Makati City
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Asia Society Philippines Board chair Doris Magsaysay Ho and Ayala Corporation president and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala |