Serving Tray

Creamer with banana and taro plants on a decorative panel. The lid for creamer has a knop handle and consists of a female figure wearing the late 19th century traje de mestiza (mestiza dress). Part of a table service set (237767), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, United States.(Sandra Castro, 2021)


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Map    Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Creator

Fernando and Tomás Zamora

Date

1903

Identifier

237767

Origin

Manila, Philippines

Materials

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)

Physical Dimensions

12.5" x 9" x 4.75" (lid) 5.75" high

Provenance

Gifted to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History by then Secretary of War William Howard Taft in 1906. This creamer and lid 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.

Acquisition Date

1906

Related Object

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

Display status

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)

References

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

Acknowledgements

Photo credit: Marisa Ventura Diaz-Etchevehere

Collection

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Cite this Page

Fernando and Tomás Zamora, “Serving Tray,” Mapping Philippine Material Culture, accessed May 30, 2023, https://philippinestudies.uk/mapping/items/show/4355.

Geolocation

Related Items

Serving TrayPunchbowlCoffee PotSet of Cups (Carabao Motifs)


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