For today’s #WildlifeWednesday, we bring you this comical-looking fish who looks like it is gazing woefully at the stars and the planet parade this December. But it is, in fact, waiting patiently to ambush its meal. 

Stargazer species (from Family Uranoscopidae) have adapted to spending most of their lives buried in the sand. They use their pectoral fins to dig sandy bottoms, with their upturned faces the only parts exposed. This made them look like they were gazing at the skies, but their eyes and mouths were strategically located at the top of their heads to easily cast their lures and capture prey. 

While stargazer fishes lack charm and glamor like others, they’ve invested more in becoming successful ambush predators. Many species have worm-shaped lures to attract a wide range of menu like squid, crabs, shrimps, worms, and fishes, which it gulps down whole! And a while later it just coughs out scales and other indigestible parts of its prey. Some stargazer species are even capable of delivering electric currents and deadly venom. Divers usually keep a safe distance when they get a rare encounter with members of this family.

It’s nearly Christmas. Let’s all look up and be thankful, and be still and calm until we can grab the blessings that we either worked hard for or arrive our way. 

#MuseumFromHome 

#StargazerFish

Text by NMP Zoology Division 

Photo by Darlene Aggabao Mcguire (Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte)

©National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 125th birth anniversary of watercolorist, illustrator, and cartoonist Ireneo L. Miranda born #OnThisDay in 1896.

Ireneo L. Miranda (1896-1964) belonged to the classical realist school that promoted the classical canons of beauty, harmony, and proportion from the 1920s to the 1940s. While his contemporaries worked primarily with oil, Miranda mastered the watercolor medium. He was also an illustrator and cartoonist. He designed labels and advertisements and taught cartooning and commercial design. Miranda became known as the “Dean of Philippine Cartoonists.”

His works in the National Fine Arts Collection consist of watercolor and oil on canvas portraits of personalities. One of them is an oil painting “Portrait of Maria Lourdes L. Estella (1929-2018)” created in 1952. The sitter, Maria Lourdes Estella was around 23 years old, studying painting at UP under Miranda, when this work was completed. This was formerly labelled as “Portrait of a Lady”, but in 2020, the #NationalMuseumPH was able to correct the title after one of the relatives of the sitter submitted pertinent documents and photographs for verification. It is currently on exhibit at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Gallery IX: Early 20th Century Philippine Portrait Hall.

Miranda studied at the UP School of Fine Arts and worked as an assistant illustrator at the Bureau of Printing at the same time. After graduation, he landed a job at the Pacific Commercial Company as a designer for product labels and illustrator for advertisements. In 1918, he became an assistant instructor at the UP School of Fine Arts. He taught decorative painting, cartooning, and commercial design until 1916. Among his students were National Artist Carlos Francisco (1912-1969), National Artist Cesar Legaspi (1917-1994), and Carlos Valino, Jr. (1926-2008). He also worked at the Brown and Rossedel Advertising Co. in 1920 as an illustrator creating caricatures and watercolor works for magazines and newspapers. 

He also did several portraits. Some of these feature personalities such as fellow artists Nena Saguil (1914-1994), Fabian de la Rosa (1869-1937), and National Artist Abdulmari Imao (1936-2014) as well as former Senator Santanina Tillah Rasul (b. 1930). His daughter, Irinea, occasionally sat for him for his paintings and sketches. An accident in 1953 that resulted in a fracture of his arm bone made him unable to paint for some years. 

The acclaimed “Dean of Philippine Cartoonists,” Ireneo Miranda, died of a heart attack on March 21, 1964.

We are now open! To visit the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), you may book a tour on the NMP 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 your National Museum!

#IreneoMiranda

#OnThisDay

#BeatCOVID19

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

The month of December marks a lot of gatherings and festivities all over the globe, especially for Filipinos here and abroad. During these occasions, wines, liquor, and other alcohol beverages accompanying the food served are consumed for fun and merriment. These liquids that enliven the spirit of every person in the celebrations are contained in glass bottles.

In the continuing celebration of this holiday season, today’s #TrowelTuesday of the #NationalMuseumPH features intact glass bottles retrieved from archaeological sites in Manila.

In our present time, glass bottles are objects of common use –  as containers or storage for various food items, drinks, and other forms of liquids and substances. But in ancient times, glass bottles were highly sought as only a few of those who are privileged were able to possess them.

The glass bottle is considered an important development in the history of wine and alcoholic drinks. Although glass containers or vessels for wine and beer are probably 1,600 years old, much of their use began only in the late 17th century. As a container or vessel combined with a high-quality stoppers such as a cork, it allowed for the long-term aging and storage of wine and other alcoholic drinks. 

The material evidence of consumption of wine and other liquors in glass bottles here in the Philippines is largely associated to the Spanish and American occupation period in our country from the late 16th to 19th centuries.

The #NationalMuseumPH has a collection of hundreds of intact wine and liquor glass bottles and thousands of glass shards recovered from various archaeological sites all over the country. Many of these glass bottles were manufactured in Europe and the United States of America, and there are also locally-made glass bottles and shards originating from parts of Asia.

This holiday season, many are eager to be be with their families, friends and loved ones despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. Amidst the merriment, let’s continue to #KeepSafe by practicing minimum health protocols as we #BeatCOVID19.

Cheers and #MaligayangPasko po sa ating lahat!

#GlassBottles

#MuseumFromHome

#GetVaccinated

Text by Giovanni Bautista and poster by Timothy James Vitales | NMP Archaeology Division

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

This week on #MaritimeMonday features the crescent-shaped Chinese blue and white porcelain kendi from the Santa Cruz shipwreck. The trade vessel carried Asian stoneware and porcelain ceramics for trade along with metal, glass, stone, and wood objects, as well as organics and other ecofacts when it met its untimely demise about 10 nautical miles from the shores of Santa Cruz Municipality, Zambales Province. Analysis of the Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Burmese/Myanmar ceramics places the sinking date of the Santa Cruz from the late 15^th century to the early 16th century CE (Common Era). For more information about the Santa Cruz shipwreck, please see https://tinyurl.com/SantaCruzShipwreck.

The Chinese blue and white porcelain numbered in the thousands, mostly in the form of dishes, bowls, teacups, and jars. There are unusual forms in limited numbers such as the crescent-shaped blue and white kendi. They are made of thick porcelain, have a central cylindrical neck and stand on four small feet. The long neck ends in a bulbous mouth and a small spout protrudes from one side. A small conical top covers the upturned ends. They are classified as pouring vessels where you place the liquid in the central neck and pour it in the side spout. Some pieces have motifs ranging from floral scrolls, panels, and waves. Two pieces have plain blue color under the glaze. 

The forms have been influenced by Islamic metalwork, which began its circulation as early as the 12th century CE. Some of the motifs (panels and floral scrolls) have been termed Islamicate, first coined by Marshall Hodgson in 1974 to refer to “all creative and scientific work which relate not to the religion itself but to the social, cultural complex historically associated with Islam and the Muslims”. The Islamicate ceramics in some Philippine shipwrecks have been studied including the crescent-shaped kendi. The form and motif strongly suggests a market for Islamic communities, possibly in Mindanao, Indonesia, and the Indian Ocean states.

Your #NationalMuseumPH is now open to the public with minimum health protocols. Please visit our newly upgraded ‘300 Years of Maritime Trade in the Philippines’ exhibition on the second floor of the National Museum of Anthropology Building. You may also opt to watch the virtual tour of the said gallery here: https://tinyurl.com/300YearsOfMaritimeTradePH. Please monitor this website and social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for further information and booking arrangements.

#CrescentShapedKendi

#ChinesePorcelain

#SantaCruzShipwreck

#MuseumFromHome

#StaySafeStayHome

#BeatCOVID19

National Museum Turns Over Sta. Cruz Church in Maribojoc, Bohol

After years of restoration and reconstruction, the Sta. Cruz Parish Church in Maribojoc, Bohol was officially handed over to its local community.

The Church Complex of the Parish of the Holy Cross and Diocesan Shrine of San Vicente Ferrer, more known as Sta. Cruz Parish Church or Maribojoc Church is one of the most hard-hit heritage structures in the province of Bohol in October 2013.  Days after the catastrophic 7.3 magnitude earthquake, the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP), together with the other concerned government agencies, organizations, and stakeholders conjointly worked on planning and putting up the “National Heritage Reconstruction Program for the Visayas Region”, which aimed for the restoration and conservation of the affected century-old religious and architectural structures in the region, including the Maribojoc Church.

The Maribojoc Church Complex which consists of a stone masonry church and convent, side plazas and a stone stairway at the back of the church, is a declared National Cultural Treasure due to its outstanding historical, cultural, and artistic value making it highly significant cultural property of the nation.  Its declaration justifies the government spending and prioritizing for its restoration and reconstruction.

Eight (8) years since the 2013 earthquake, the concluding event finally took place.  A mass and the turnover ceremony were held at the Maribojoc Church on Sunday, December 12, 2021.  Gracing the event with their presence were His Excellency Jorge Moragas Sanches, the Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines, and Archbishop Charles John Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.  President Rodrigo Duterte on the other hand was represented by his adviser on Streamlining of Government Processes, and a former Mayor of the town of Maribojoc, Secretary Leoncio Evasco.  Also in attendance were Bohol Governor Arthur Yap and Congressman Edgar M. Chatto, who both delivered their messages during the program.

The liturgical dedication of the Maribojoc Church and Diocesan Shrine and Pontifical Mass was officiated by Most Reverend Bishop Alberto S. Uy, with Bishop Brown as Homilist.  After the mass, NMP Director-General Jeremy Barns led the ceremonial turnover though his speech.   In his speech, DG Barns described the ceremony as a four-fold event – the returning of the reconstructed church to its people, the nearing completion of the Bohol Heritage Task Force and the Bohol-Cebu Heritage Recovery Program in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the marking both the turnover and the culmination of the recovery and restoration program in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio and the Ambassador of Spain, and most importantly is the message of hope, especially this Christmas season, as embodied by the turnover ceremony.  He also highlighted some milestones of the reconstruction project and ended his message by expressing his gratitude to all the stakeholders that have been part of the eight-year project.

As a response, a message of acceptance and gratitude was given by Bishop Uy, representing the legal owner of the church, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tagbilaran.  It was then concluded with the signing of the Certificates of Turn-over and Acceptance and the Unveiling of NHCP Marker.

The night before the celebrated event, a welcome dinner was hosted by the NMP for HE Ambassador Sanches and Archbishop Brown that was held at the NMP Bohol Area Museum in Tagbilaran.  A Plague of Appreciation was awarded to the NMP by Bishop Alberto Uy during the dinner.

The NMP expresses its gratitude and honor for the trust given by the people in accomplishing yet another significant realization of carrying out its mission and mandate.  Rest assured that it will continue serving the public and its community in pursuit of a Filipino nation of citizens with pride for their identity, committed to the protection and dissemination of its heritage.