Pottery: Unidentified form

Object Details

• Provenance

  ?-1960

  H. Otley Beyer (1883-1966), method of acquisition unknown in Manila, Philippines [1]

  From 1960

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of H. Otley Beyer [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See loose index card inscribed by John A. Pope (1906-1982) and found with the storage container for FSC-P-3453 – FSC-P-3471, copy in object file. The loose index card describes FSC-P-3453 – FSC-P-3471 as, “19 shards of Manila Ware [/] Pottery made in Manila (Makati) [/] 17th-18th centuries [/] Forms and designs inspired by European Glass and Silver. [/] Gift of Prof. H. Otley Beyer, May 1960.”

  See also letter from H. Otley Beyer to John A. Pope, dated April 30, 1960, from National Museum of Asian Art Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., John Alexander Pope Papers, FSA.A1988.01, Series 6 Correspondence, Box 67, Folder 17, copy in object file. Beyer’s letter indicates that Pope planned to visit Beyer at the Museum and Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of the Philippines, Manila, in mid-May 1960. Beyer possibly gave the shards to Pope at that time.

  Professor Henry Otley Beyer (1883-1966) was an American anthropologist who was among the first to excavate Thai and Vietnamese ceramics together with Chinese export wares in the Philippines. He spent sixty years in the Philippines and is known as the "Father of Philippine Anthropology." His excavation reports include "Chinese, Siamese and Other Oriental Wares in the Philippine Islands" (1930). See David P. Rehfuss, "Ceramic Sherds from Southeast Asia—The Freer Study Collection and its Donors," Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia: Collections in the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2008, http://SEAsianCeramics.asia.si.edu.

  [2] See note 1.

  The objects, FSC-P-3453 – FSC-P-3471, are part of the museum’s Freer Study Collection.

  Research updated October 7, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  H. Otley Beyer (1883-1966)

• Origin

  Manila, Philippines

• Credit Line

  Gift of H. Otley Beyer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Name

  Beyer, H. Otley

• Place

  Philippines, Manila

• Topic

  Art, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)