Pearl of the Orient: The Philippines in a Shell published in 2007 brings together, for the first time publication, paintings and carvings on mother-of-pearl shells that served as souvenirs of the Philippines during the last part of the 19th century. Because the mother-of-pearl or pinctada maxima shells were abundant in the Philippines, they became perfect keepsakes of the archipelago. Depicted inside these small, portable, and almost indestructible shells are mostly scenes of Philippine daily life, and they are captured quite vividly despite their miniature picture planes—an excellent memento for, truly, here is the Philippines in a shell. Not surprisingly, most of the shells in this album were found on foreign shores, specifically in Spain. More than a century hence—with the recent surfacing of paintings on shell done by the foremost 19th century Filipino artists Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, and Felix Martinez, Spanish artists Javier Gomez de la Serna and Francisco Verdugo y Bartlett, and the fortuitous discovery of Philippine national hero José Rizal’s own shell paintings—these antiquarian souvenirs now join the ranks of other fine art pieces from the same period. Included also in this album are exquisite carvings that will impress the reader with their painstaking craftsmanship. New research materials on unknown Filipino and Spanish artists have also been included in this book, which will certainly add to the scholarship on 19th century Philippine visual art. With this book, the Philippines’ timehonored appellation—pearl of the orient—takes on another dimension.
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