Tipos del Pais (People of the Country) Studies of the People of Manilla, Philippines
1846
watercolour heightened with white, gold and gum arabic on paper
9" x 13 3/4" (23 cm x 35 cm) each

Accompanied by a handwritten note Inscribed as follows: "Costumes from the Philippine Islands painted by a Native artist, Manila,
20 May 1846
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Sweden



Justiniano Asunción, known as “Capitan Ting” in Sta. Cruz after his appointment as the capitan municipal of that prosperous Manila district, was however more famous on two continents for his art.Asunción is presumed to have taken lessons in the last years of the first Manila Academia de Dibujo, established by Damian Domingo, himself widely held to be as the father of Filipino painting. The academy, however, closed with Domingo’s abrupt death in 1834. Asunción is, however, considered one of his most worthy successors in the painting of the celebrated Tipos del Pais.The Tipos del Pais has been described by art historian Florina Capistrano-Baker, an expert in this field, as “Philippine export watercolors that capture the inhabitants, costumes, and occupations of the country.” They were, in particular ‘trophies of trade’, commissioned by what she termed as elite merchants and fellow travelers to symbolize their pelf and power. These were the wealthy traders of New England and Massachusetts who became enormously rich by importing sugar from the Philippines to make American rum, the country’s indigo for factories on the eastern seaboard, and marine-grade hemp to make ropes for the bustling ship-building business in Salem. Dazzlingly, this all occurred a half-century before the United States paid for formal control of the Philippines to the Spanish in 1898.Two American trading firms are known to have operated in Manila in the 1820s: Peele Hubbell & Co. (whose American flag flies over its warehouse depicted and correctly identified by Capistrano- Baker in a unique Letras y Figuras that recently came to auction at León Gallery. That work is an extraordinary example in English, titled Views of Manila.The other American entity is the rather better- known Russel & Sturgis Co. who had ties not just in Manila but also to Canton, China.There are several of these watercolors that have become familiar to collectors, but there are others that are rarely seen or only now to be presently discovered. These include El pobre mendigando (Blind Beggar, taken from life); the Mestiza Bañando (Mestiza Bathing); and Jugador de Gallo de Malabon (Actual likeness of a Celebrated Cock- fighter). The latter appears to be truly more of a pocket fan’s portrait, the 19th-century equivalent of a Michael Jordan basketball trading card. The sportsman’s features are so well outlined including his mustache.While the watercolors of mestizas in street and church ensembles, for example, may be known to aficionados, these particular renditions are far more vibrant and life-like. Capistrano-Baker has written about tell-tale signs of Asunción’s work, only visible with magnification, that give them a subtle but certain unmistakeable and magical quality.This collection of never-before-seen Asunción works is significant because of their outstanding beauty and condition. These tipos del pais works are also accompanied by a handwritten note that significantly details their complete date of creation. The note says: "Costumes from the Philippine Islands painted by a Native artist, Manila, 20 May 1846.”