Set of Cups (Carabao Motifs)

Fernando and Tomás Zamora

1903

Manila, Philippines

The pieces have not been tested as to metal content but the Smithsonian identifies it as is silver or silver-plated and copper alloy. The local name for the material is “ tumbaga “ (silver-plate on a copper alloy). (Sandra Castro, 2021)

5.5" x 3.75" x 3"

Gifted to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History by then Secretary of War William Howard Taft in 1906. The set of cups is part of a 33-piece set crafted by Filipino silversmiths, Fernando and Tomás Zamora around 1903. The set was exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark expositions before being purchased and then gifted to the NMNH by then Secretary of War William Howard Taft in 1906—three years before he was elected president.

1906

Search for the rest of the 33-piece set by going through the object tour under Representing the Colony: The Zamora Table Service

Not on display. This was displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, ·Missouri) in 1904 and at the Lewis and Clark Exposition (Portland, Oregon) held the following year. In 1906, the War Department of the United States purchased the set and displayed it a third time at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (Seattle, Wash­ington) in 1909. (Sandro Castro, 2021)

Castro, Sandra. “History and Ornamentation in Philippine Colonial Silver,” Arts of Asia (Sept-Oct 2020), 116-127.
http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/media/?i=14909078

Photo credit: Marisa Ventura Diaz-Etchevehere