“Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit (Ayala Museum, Makati City, Metro Manila)

 

The “Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit

The “Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit, a permanent exhibit (reopened last August 3, 2022) curated by Kenneth C. Esguerra, Marinella Andrea C. Mina, examines the practical, social, economic, and spiritual values that Filipinos ascribed to these trade wares over a millennium of exchange. 

Blue-and-white dishes recovered from the Calatagan archaelogical site in Batangas

It features a selection, from a long-term loan to Ayala Museum from the Roberto T. Villanueva Collection of Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics, of more than 150 ceramic pieces found in the Philippines.

 

Celadon jars and cups recovered in Butuan, Agusan del Norte

Arguably one of the most comprehensive collections of ceramics found in the Philippines, these  Chinese and Southeast Asian trade ceramics found in the Philippine archipelago, dating as far back as the 11^th century, indicate the active participation of our forefathers in a wide network of inland and inter-island trade and cultural exchange in the region as early as the ninth century.

 

The right side of the exhibit

At both ends of the gallery, I encountered large maps that situate where these objects came from, how they reached the archipelago, and where were they found locally.

 

The left side of the gallery

The left hand displays in the gallery provide a brief introduction to what ceramics are and the variety of material found in the Philippines.

 

Trade jars at the center of the gallery

In the center is a display of a variety of trade jars as well as a scaled reproductions of a parao (111 x 70 x 67 cms.), used by the Tausug and Badjaos to sail from Mindanao to the Visayas, to Luzon and within Southeast Asia, and a casco (100 x 39 x 80 cms.), a type of barge used to carry cargo along lakes and rivers.

 

Model of a casco

The right section of the gallery examines the central question of the exhibition—why are there so many trade ceramics in the Philippines?

 

Model of a parao

“Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit: 4/F, Ayala Museum, Makati Ave. cor. De la Rosa St., Greenbelt Park, Makati City 1224.  Mobile number: (0945) 567-4221.  Open Wednesdays-Sundays; 10AM - 6PM.  Email: hello@ayalamuseum.org.  Website: www.ayalamuseum.org.