Have you ever seen a rock with shiny, gold-colored minerals on it? Can it be gold? Or is it something else? In today’s #DignayanBiyernes, let us talk about Pyrite.

Pyrite, with the chemical formula FeS2, is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Its name originates from the Greek word pyr, which means “fire”, because of the sparks it generates when struck. It has a brass-yellow color and a metallic luster. Crystals of pyrite are frequently cubic, pyritohedron, or octahedron with often striated crystal faces, although they can also form as massive, granular, or nodules. Pyrite can occur as an accessory mineral in many kinds of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, forming in a wide variety of environments.

Did you know that pyrite is commonly referred to as “fool’s gold”? Inexperienced people often mistake it for gold due to its color, metallic luster, and specific gravity.

So, how do you differentiate pyrite from gold? Well, you can easily distinguish one from the other using their physical properties, namely their hardness, streak, and density.

Pyrite is brittle with a hardness of 6-6.5, while gold is soft, malleable, and ductile with a hardness of 2.5-3. Scratching pyrite on a hard surface leaves a greenish-black to brownish-black streak, while gold leaves a gold-yellow streak. Lastly, pyrite is two to three times lighter than gold.

In the Philippines, pyrite is widely distributed. It is most commonly found occurring where copper and gold deposits are found. These include the provinces of Ilocos Region, Benguet, Bicol, Cebu, Samar, Negros Region, Surigao Del Norte, and Zamboanga Peninsula, among others.

If you want to see a pyrite mineral in person, you may book a tour at the National Museum of Natural History through this website.. Try and see if you can tell the difference between pyrite and gold.

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#MuseumFromHome

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Text and image by the NMP Geology and Paleontology Division

© National Museum of the Philippines (2022)

Feature Creature from the Philippine Mammal Collections Drawer: Philippine Tree Shrews

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The #NationalMuseumPH pays tribute to Manlilikha ng Bayan Yabing Masalon Dulo.

MB Yabing Masalon Dulo, also known as Fu Yabing in the community, has left us a great legacy upon her passing. She was a master weaver known for being excellent in making the Blaan tabih (woven abaca cloth), a craft she has learned from a very young age before her death on 26 January 2021. Her exemplary skills paved the way in her receipt of the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) in 2016, together with two other awardees from Mindanao.

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) granted Fu Yabing a GAMABA Cultural Center that enabled her to teach the next generation of weavers of the Blaan community in Polomolok, South Cotabato. The transmission of such intangible knowledge through mentorship is important as it ensures the existence of a tradition. With her passing at the age of 106, Fu Yabing’s teachings continue to be carried on by her family, students, and the Blaan community in Barangay Landan in Polomolok.

Selected works of Fu Yabing are exhibited and housed at the #NationalMuseumPH. One of which is a tabih that she made when she was twelve years old and donated by Ms. Silvana Ancellotti-Diaz in February 2009 to the Filipino people. The rest of the collections under Fu Yabing’s name were gifts to the nation that were turned over to the #NationalMuseumPH through the NCCA, and are currently on display at the Manlilikha ng Bayan Hall and Hibla ng Lahing Filipino galleries at the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila.

#YabingMasalonDulo

#GAMABA 

#ManlilikhaNgBayan

#MuseumFromHome

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division and NCCA GAMABA Executive Council.

Photograph of Manlilikha ng Bayan Yabing Masalon Dulo courtesy of the NCCA GAMABA Executive Council

© National Museum of the Philippines 2022

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 92nd birth anniversary of National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon V. Abueva, born #OnThisDay in 1930.

Napoleon V. Abueva (1930-2018) was recognized as the Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture. His modernist approach can be seen in his exploration of various media such as molave, acacia, langka, ipil, kamagong, palm, adobe, cement, marble, bronze, iron, brass, among others. It is also apparent in the monumental character of his outdoor and public sculptures and the promotion of Philippine themes in his subject matter. His works adorn public buildings such as the altar and hanging crucifix at the UP Diliman Chapel, mural at the National Center for Mental Health, and façade relief at the Insular Life Building in Makati. He also created the memorial cross reliefs at Dambana ng Kagitingan in Mt. Samat Bataan, Sandugo Monument in Tagbilaran Bohol, and Balangiga Encounter Monument in Balangiga Samar. His sculptures can also be seen in public spaces such as La Mesa Eco Park (“Neptune and Aphrodite”), Eternal Gardens Memorial Park (“Transfiguration”), UP Visayas (“Ang Diwata at Ang Dagat”), UP Los Baños (“Pegaraw”), and UP Diliman (“Nine Muses,” “Magdangal,” and “Tres Marias”). Some of his sculptures involve movable components like the “Allegorical Harpoon” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and “The Spirit of Business” at the UP Diliman campus.

The National Fine Arts Collection has seven Abueva sculptures, including the Manila Pavilion Reliefs “Rajah Sulayman, His Court and the Palisades of Maynilad” (1967) and “Legaspi and the Founding of Manila” (1967). This set of molave relief sculptures is a Gift to the Nation by the Manila Pavilion Hotel. It is exhibited, along with other Abueva’s works, at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Gallery XIII (Vicente and Carmen Fabella Hall). 

Abueva was born on January 26, 1930, in Manila and grew up in Duero, Bohol. When he was young, he showed interest in art and surprised his siblings and friends with his beautiful wooden sculptures. The 1950s marked the beginning of his prolific artistic practice. He enrolled at the UP College of Fine Arts in 1950 as a Pura Villanueva-Kalaw scholar, where he was mentored by National Artist Guillermo Tolentino (1890-1976). While studying at UP, he was already winning in the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) competitions, such as first prize in the 1951 AAP Semi-Annual Competition and the top prize in the 1952 AAP Annual Art Competition. In 1955, he took up Master of Fine Arts at the Cranbrook Academy of Art sponsored by the Fulbright Travel Grant and Smith-Mundt Scholarship. He also finished a postgraduate course at the University of Kansas. He took up summer courses at Harvard University in 1956. His education made him highly skillful in both classical and abstract representations. This is manifested in his numerous outstanding works that contribute to the development of Philippine modern sculpture.

He was awarded National Artist for Sculpture in 1976 and was the youngest artist to receive the prestigious award. Abueva’s skill, dedication, and passion for art inspired him to produce numerous works until he passed away on February 16, 2018, in Quezon City. 

We are now open! To visit the National Museum of Fine Arts, you may book a tour through this website. Please note the guidelines for visiting. You may also view the 360 degrees virtual tour of select NMFA galleries on the link https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nmfa360/HTML5/NMFA360.html. See you at the National Museum!

#NapoleonAbueva

#OnThisDay

#BeatCOVID19

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© National Museum of the Philippines (2022)

This week on #MaritimeMonday features the Chinese blue and white porcelain pen boxes from the Santa Cruz and the Lena Shoal shipwrecks, Southeast Asian trade vessels that sank in the Philippines around 1488–1505 CE (Common Era). To learn more about the Santa Cruz shipwreck, please see https://tinyurl.com/3z7hxfm4. For Lena Shoal shipwreck, please see https://tinyurl.com/2p9f8rkn. 

Part of both shipwreck ceramic assemblages were very limited quantities of Chinese blue and white porcelain pen boxes. They are considered scholarly objects used to store reed calligraphy pens and assorted paraphernalia to write Arabic and Persian. They are thickly potted pieces with covers that have a rectangular form with rounded ends and are painted in dark cobalt blue with a bluish glaze. The interior of the pen box is divided into compartments to fit an inkwell, a porcelain container for sand and a silk or linen thread porcelain container. The exterior side is decorated with lotus scrolls, classical scroll borders, lotus petal panels, floral branches and sprays, and waves. 

Pen box shapes are traditionally non-Chinese and may have been produced following Islamic metalworks that began to appear in the 12th century CE in the Middle East and/or Central Asia. As shipwreck objects, these were certainly destined for Muslim scholars and civil servants in the littoral societies of Islamic Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and maybe in the Middle East during the late 15th century CE. 

In compliance with the recent announcement of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF), placing the National Capital Region (NCR) under Alert Level 3, the National Museum Complex in Manila will only be accepting fully vaccinated adults (ages 18 to 65 years old) starting January 3, 2022, in a limited capacity.

Admission is FREE but all visitors are required to RESERVE ONLINE by clicking BOOK A TOUR on this website at least a day before the visit. 

#SantaCruzShipwreck

#LenaShoalShipwreck

#ChineseBlueAndWhitePorcelainPenBox

#StaySafe

#BeatCOVID19

Text, Poster, and Photos by the Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division

© The National Museum of the Philippines (2022)