From Manila to Bologna and Beyond: The Maritime Trajectory of an Eighteenth-Century Philippine Bamboo Container

Abstract:In this article, I examine an eighteenth-century bamboo container engraved with scenes of Philippine life. This hybrid object, housed in the Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna, Italy, was created under the direction of Jesuit missionary Pedro Murillo Velarde. The container's decoration combines elements from Indigenous Filipino, Chinese, and European traditions, echoing the imagery on Murillo's famous 1734 map of the Philippines. I argue that the container was intended as a gift for Pope Benedict XIV, which Murillo presented in the hopes of securing papal support for Jesuit efforts in the Philippines. Encapsulating the archipelago's rich natural and cultural diversity while also recording the Jesuit mission's successes and challenges, the container would have appealed to the pope's well-known interests in exotic artifacts and the sciences. Situating the bamboo container in its historical context of knowledge exchange and colonial ethnography, I analyze its form, function, and iconography to reveal how these kinds of objects were employed to represent cultural encounters and assert Jesuit authority in the Spanish Empire.