Articles on Philippine ceramics are hard to come by. Either they are written solely for the enjoyment of the academe or for collectors. It's quite refreshing to see that historians like our very own
Ambeth Ocampo delve into ceramics. As a reader, it really pays to elevate this hobby by means of writing. It gives people direction with perspectives from other authors. It sheds light into an otherwise esoteric affair. Mr. Ocampo wrote this for the Philippine Daily Inquirer:
A story prehistoric ceramics tell
As an avid collector of antiques since the 1970s, it was inevitable
that Rosita Arcenas ended up with over 500 pieces of Chinese and
Southeast Asian ceramics, mostly excavated in the Philippines. The
pleasing shapes and varied hues lent color to her home. Now well-curated
in the University of San Carlos Museum in Cebu, the ceramics have
become tangible proof of a lively maritime trade between the Philippines
and its neighbors from the 11th through the 19th centuries. Most of
these ceramics predate the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521; these
pots are prehistoric, though not so far back to the time of dinosaurs
and cavemen; rather, these ceramics were made in the period before
written records came to existence in the Philippines.
History is a narrative, and the story of these ceramics is the same
as those told in the ceramic galleries of the National Museum and by the
Roberto Villanueva Collection in the Ayala Museum—stories from
artifacts rather than in books and archival manuscripts. Part of our
nation’s story comes from old pots that illustrate trade and
civilization in these islands long before the Spanish conquest in the
16th century. Many of these pots are older than the name “Filipinas”
such that the pioneering prehistorian H. Otley Beyer defined the 10th to
early 16th centuries as a period different from the earlier Stone Age
and Iron Age. Based on his ceramic finds, he aptly described this time
as “the Philippines in the Porcelain Age.”
Arab and Chinese traders encountered small seafaring communities by
the coasts and waterways of the Philippine archipelago in the 9th
century. These communities were headed by chiefs, and varied in size and
political complexity. Trade was conducted through barter; silk, iron,
parasols, glass and porcelain brought by the Chinese were exchanged for
the Filipinos’ pearls, tortoise shell, yellow wax, betel nut, abaca
fabric, cotton and provisions of fresh water, meat, vegetable and fruit
for their onward journey.
Traces of this trade are the ceramics that, in our museums, most
people find boring because it seems that once you have seen one
blue-and-white Ming plate, you have seen them all. But if you take the
time to give these ceramics a second look you will realize that the
high-fired imported ceramics are different from low-fired Philippine
earthenware; these are impermeable, glazed, ornamented with iron spots
or with freely painted auspicious symbols in Chinese or Tibetan
characters, as well as with images of pine, prunus, peach, twin, fish,
twin Mandarin ducks, dragon chasing pearl, phoenix, and frolicking Fu
dogs. These images meant something to the Chinese; what did they come to
mean to the early Filipinos? Some high-fired plates and bowls, ringing
like a bell when flicked with a finger, came to be used for rituals
because they were believed to possess magic qualities.
In time, and because of their design and utility, these imported
ceramics became prestige objects that proclaimed their owner’s wealth
and status. When Magellan arrived in Cebu, he and his men were served
food on porcelain plates.
Most of the ceramics were found in graves, obviously placed there as
furniture the soul could bring to the afterlife. Small dishes, globular
jarlets and other ceramics accompanied the dead, and of these some of
the most prized, then and now, are the miniatures: square jarlets with
dragons on the handles; globular jarlets with two ears, or another with
lobes that resemble the balimbing fruit. These 14th-century Yuan
“balimbing jarlets” that come in plain white qingbai glaze, or white
with brown iron spots, or with floral designs in cobalt blue or
underglaze red, are significant because these were not found in China.
They were found only in archeological sites in the Philippines and parts
of Indonesia, which suggests that they were made specially for export
to the Southeast Asian market.
Also prized by collectors are small ceramic pieces of boys with water
buffalo. These were used as water droppers on scholars’ tables where
water was added to an ink stone on which ink sticks were ground to
produce the ink for Chinese calligraphy. What ancient Filipinos used
these jarlets and water droppers for, aside from grave furniture,
remains a mystery.
Then there are elegant ewers in the shape of the auspicious double
gourd with graceful handles in the form of dragons. They come in three
types: white qingbai glaze, white qingbai glaze with brown iron spots,
or white qingbai glaze painted with floral sprays in cobalt blue. Used
as wine vessels in China, what were they used for in the Philippines? A
simpler and smaller version of these can be seen in Chinese restaurants
today, as droppers for soy sauce or vinegar. In a Filipino home these
can be used as vessels for patis.
When the Filipinos were converted to Christianity, their burial
practices changed. They were buried on consecrated ground near churches
and towns. Porcelain and other pabaon were no longer placed in graves or
coffins. But old habits die hard, and in the 21st century Filipinos
still practice a form of pabaon by throwing flowers into the grave of
loved ones at the time of burial; or by leaving a cut rosary, paper
currency, or other keepsakes in the coffin to accompany the dead in the
afterlife.
Next time you get bored with a museum display of ancient pots, give
them a second look and imagine how they must have figured in our
prehistory and how they figure in our lives today.
