Baul Mundo
Binondo, Manila1565–1815 (Galleon Trade between Manila and Acapulco)
kalantas wood (Philippine cedar)
20" x 31" x 18" (51 cm x 79 cm x 46 cm)

PROVENANCECollection of Don Zacharias Rocha of Bohol


This “baul mundo” or traveling chest is carved with native Filipino foliar and floral motifs in relief in frank imitation of Moorish stampedleather from Cordoba, Spain. It is a direct artistic legacy of “Al–Andalus,” the Islamic kingdom in Spain which lasted from 711–1492, a golden era when the sciences --- mathematics, astronomy, botany, agriculture, medicine, pharmacology --- and the arts --- architecture, gardening, the fine arts --- flourished in a manner unrivaled by the Western world.These chests were usually crafted by Filipino and Chinese carpenters and carvers in Binondo from the 1600s–1700s, brought to the Binondo church or Intramuros churches for the Roman Catholic blessings, packed with various Chinese luxury goods --- silk, porcelain, lacquerware, tea --- at Cavite Puerto, and loaded on to the galleons for the long and dangerous trip east across the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco in Mexico. If the trips were successful --- if the galleons were not sunk by storms or attacked by pirates --- these chests returned to Cavite Puerto loaded with thousands of Mexican silver coins which were the lifeblood of the Spanish colony in Las Islas Filipinas.These ornate chests were admired for their beauty and durability and, after the Galleon Trade ended in 1815, were eventually kept by their stewards in church convents, government buildings, and houses. Before the postwar antique collecting craze 150 years later, these ornate chests were still found in those places where they had been left since 1815. Some relatively pristine examples were found abroad in convents and houses near Acapulco in Mexico and near Cadiz in Spain (where the ships from Acapulco docked); oddly enough, some were found in far–flung areas of those countries. Often, according to the last owners’ accounts, they had been used to store Mexican silver coins and other valuables.It is not known whether the curious term “baul mundo” for this type of carved wooden chest was coined by Ramon Villegas and Osmundo Esguerra in the 1980s; or the term was already in use by Ermita’s “The Four Winds” in the 1970s: Terry Baylosis, Willy Versoza and Jean–Louis Levi, Romeo Bauzon, Antonio Martino; it was not likely that the term already existed during the time of the early Ermita antique dealers Potenciano Badillo, Nene Cortes, and Milagros Covarrubias–Jamir. It could have been coined by the top collectors of the prewar and postwar: Arturo de Santos, Domingo Lerma, Luis Araneta, Marie–Theresa Lammoglia–Virata, Leandro and Cecilia Locsin. In any case, this type of carved chest was always a prestige purchase for serious Filipino antique collectors on account of its history and great age.Large examples of the “baul mundo” exist in the San Agustin Convent museum, in the Intramuros Administration–Casa Manila museum, and in the Paulino and Hetty Que Collection.This “baul mundo” or traveling chest is carved with native Filipino foliar and floral motifs in relief in frank imitation of Moorish stamped leather from Cordoba, Spain. It is a direct artistic legacy of “Al–Andalus,” the Islamic kingdom in Spain which lasted from 711–1492, a golden era when the sciences --- mathematics, astronomy, botany, agriculture, medicine, pharmacology --- and the arts --- architecture, gardening, the fine arts --- flourished in a manner unrivaled by the Western world.These chests were usually crafted by Filipino and Chinese carpenters and carvers in Binondo from the 1600s–1700s, brought to the Binondo church or Intramuros churches for the Roman Catholic blessings, packed with various Chinese luxury goods --- silk, porcelain, lacquerware, tea --- at Cavite Puerto, and loaded on to the galleons for the long and dangerous trip east across the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco in Mexico. If the trips were successful --- if the galleons were not sunk by storms or attacked by pirates --- these chests returned to Cavite Puerto loaded with thousands of Mexican silver coins which were the lifeblood of the Spanish colony in Las Islas Filipinas.These ornate chests were admired for their beauty and durability and, after the Galleon Trade ended in 1815, were eventually kept by their stewards in church convents, government buildings, and houses. Before the postwar antique collecting craze 150 years later, these ornate chests were still found in those places where they had been left since 1815. Some relatively pristine examples were found abroad in convents and houses near Acapulco in Mexico and near Cadiz in Spain (where the ships from Acapulco docked); oddly enough, some were found in far–flung areas of those countries. Often, according to the last owners’ accounts, they had been used to store Mexican silver coins and other valuables.It is not known whether the curious term “baul mundo” for this type of carved wooden chest was coined by Ramon Villegas and Osmundo Esguerra in the 1980s; or the term was already in use by Ermita’s “The Four Winds” in the 1970s: Terry Baylosis, Willy Versoza and Jean–Louis Levi, Romeo Bauzon, Antonio Martino; it was not likely that the term already existed during the time of the early Ermita antique dealers Potenciano Badillo, Nene Cortes, and Milagros Covarrubias–Jamir. It could have been coined by the top collectors of the prewar and postwar: Arturo de Santos, Domingo Lerma, Luis Araneta, Marie–Theresa Lammoglia–Virata, Leandro and Cecilia Locsin. In any case, this type of carved chest was always a prestige purchase for serious Filipino antique collectors on account of its history and great age.Large examples of the “baul mundo” exist in the San Agustin Convent museum, in the Intramuros Administration–Casa Manila museum, and in the Paulino and Hetty Que Collection.