Hi Rick:
Very nice and unusual piece. I think Barry has probably identified this one for you. Would you say this is late 19th/early 20th C, or perhaps a bit earlier than that?
About 15 years ago when I was going to the Philippines regularly, I had reason to look into the history of Chinese migration into the Philippines. It predated the Spanish colonial period, continued through the Spanish colonial period, tailed off somewhat during the US colonial period (we had a little law called the Chinese Exclusion Act that was applied to the Philippines as well), and then picked up when the Chinese Communists came to power and wealthy Chinese were fleeing the country. Today Filipino-Chinese mestizos (to coin an archaic Spanish term) make up a significant fraction of the Philippines population.
During Spanish times the Chinese were restricted to Intramuros in Manila. They were encouraged to intermarry with Filipinos and to adopt Spanish names. They served mainly as traders and laborers but also there were a number of artisans. Chinese involvement in the southern areas of the Philippines has also been longstanding and in recent times Chinese businessmen have been particularly active in the gold mining on Mindanao.
Chinese foundries and silversmiths have long been known in the Muslim areas of the Philippines, and in former times Chinese pirates worked the trade routes around the Philippines and participated in slave trading.
Ian.
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