-  Or click here to see all the items in the Michael Backman Ltd catalogue  -
These Items are available - Ask about an item
Large Ritual Silver Cup
Andean Indians, probably Bolivia
19th century
Inventory no.: 825
More images & information
Rare Finely Carved Coconut Money Box with Silver Mounts (Alcancia)
Spanish Colonial Guatemala
18th century
Inventory no.: 848
More images & information
Large Spanish Colonial Silver Platter
Mexico, Guatemala or Peru
18th century
diameter: 47cm
Inventory no.: 844
More images & information
Engraved Silver Shawl Pin (Tupu)
Peru
18th century
Inventory no.: 826
More images & information
Chiselled Perforated Silver Shawl Pin (Tupu)
Boliva
19th century
Inventory no.: 827
More images & information
Two Ritual Silver Cups
Andean Indians, probably Bolivia
19th century
Inventory no.: 73
More images & information
Pair of Silver-Gilt Filigree Earrings
La Alberca, Sierra de Francia, Salamanca, Spain
19th century
Inventory no.: 783
More images & information
Home: Michael Backman Ltd
17th-18th Century Portuguese, Spanish & Dutch Colonial Antiques:
Asia, the Americas & Africa
Gold & Steel Cigarette Case
Eibar, Spain
early 20th century
Inventory no.: 394
More images & information
_______________________________________________________________________________

Gold, Galleons & Jesuits: The Historical Links Between South America, India & Southeast Asia
_______________________________________________________________________________
Among Europeans, the Spanish and the Portuguese have perhaps the longest histories of interacting directly with the peoples of East Asia. The Philippines, East
Timor, Malacca in Malaysia, Goa in India, coastal Sri Lanka and Macau were among the regions under Spanish or Portuguese control from the sixteenth century
onwards. And with their dominions in the Americas, elaborate trade networks that stretched around the world were developed, integrating the economies of Central
and South America with Asia. The integration of the Philippines with Mexico perhaps was the most overt example.  It is not widely known, but from the sixteenth
through to the early nineteenth century, the Philippines was not ruled directly by Spain but was actually administered from Mexico.

Spain and Portugal’s conquest of America and parts of Asia in the sixteenth century was complemented by the establishment of additional trading outposts
elsewhere. For example, the Portuguese first established a presence in the then Siamese capital Ayutthaya during the reign of Ramathibodi II in 1511 AD. They
brought with them Christianity and technical prowess in canal building and surveying. The King allowed them to settle outside the capital in the Samphaolom sub-
district. (The Thai Government registered the site as a National Monument in 1938. Excavated objects such as Jesuit porcelain fragments and crucifixes are on
display in the National Museum in Bangkok today.)

The New Wold provided Spain and Portugal with immense wealth – massive new sources of gold and silver directly increased wealth but also allowed global trade to
increase – effectively the world’s money supply greatly increased with all the new bullion. This expansion in the global money supply allowed global trade to expand.
The gold and silver was sent to Europe but it also washed through Spain and Portugal’s other newly established colonies in India and East Asia.

Gems, ivory, tropical timbers, and tortoiseshell also were among the newly accessed commodities. The indigenous peoples of Portugal and Spain’s new dominions
received Christianity in return. This had a profound impact on their art, plus it lead to new forms of trade: Goa and Ceylon became important centres for Christian art
with the manufacture of carved ivory Holy Family figures and saints – items that were then traded across the Portuguese and Spanish empires from Mexico to the
Philippines. New techniques were introduced too. Silver and gold filigree work was already being produced on the Iberian peninsula but now Spain and Portugal
placed orders for this type of work among indigenous artisans.

The Jesuits were important too. They commissioned religious artworks in these new locations for export to their churches and monasteries elsewhere. Jesuit-themed
porcelain was commissioned from China via Macau for example and from there it found its way to Portugal, South America, India and the Philippines.

Trade between the colonies was important. In this way sixteenth century Asia had close commercial links with South America, demonstrating that globalisation is
hardly a new phenomenon. As mentioned, an important example was the trade links that developed between Mexico and the Philippines. These developed 400 years
ago and lasted for a 250-year period when a small fleet of Spanish ships known in Mexico as the Nao de la China sailed the 9,000 nautical mile journey between the
two - the so-called Galleon Trade. Goods were traded directly by this means but also from other locations such as India, China, Japan and other parts of Southeast
Asia. Items from these locations first made their way to Manila and then on to Mexico. Spices, ivory, gemstones and porcelain were among the goods traded.

The Philippines was ruled by the viceroy of Nueva Espana (as Mexico was then known) on behalf of Spain from 1565 to 1815: In 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a
Spaniard who had settled in Mexico led an expedition to the Philippines to subjugate the natives. He was made the governor of the new colony and in 1571, he
captured a settlement on Luzon which he renamed Manila. Each of Legazpi’s successors was a Mexican. Many of the prominent administrators, soldiers, missionaries,
and traders in the Philippines during this period also were born in Mexico.  Spain took over direct control of the Philippines in 1815 when the Mexicans started to fight
for independence, thus ending 250 years of Mexican rule over the Philippines.

Spain and Portugal became conduits for northern African art influences too. All or part of the Iberian peninsula was ruled by the Moors for around 800 years with
Granada, the last Moorish foothold in Spain, falling in 1492 – the same year that the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus commenced his first voyage to the
Americas.

The Moorish occupiers with their Islamic motifs and design elements had a profound and lasting influence on Portuguese and Spanish art. This Iberian-Islamic
syncretism was then carried to Mexico, Guatemala and Southeast Asia with Spanish and Portuguese conquest, so that some items from eighteenth century Mexico for
example have motifs that could easily pass for being Indian or Malay. Add on the effects of direct trade between the two regions in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, migration between the two, and the overlay of a shared experience of Catholicism and these two streams of art and culture – those of the Americas and
those of Asia – which seemingly are unrelated can be shown in fact to have significant linkages.
© Michael Backman Ltd
Etched Brass & Copper Tobacco/Betel Box
Colonial Dutch, Sri Lanka
circa 1720
Inventory no.: 683
More images & information
Unusually Large Etched Brass & Copper Tobacco/Betel Box
Colonial Dutch, Sri Lanka
circa 1720
Inventory no.: 780
More images & information
Tortoiseshell Betel Box with Engraved, Parcel-gilt Silver Mounts
Sri Lanka
late 18th century
Inventory no.: 1010
More images & information
Large Chinese-style English Porcelain Dish made for Indian Market
England
circa 1900
Inventory no.: 1009
More images & information
Silver Balanganda
Brazil
19th century
Inventory no.: 1005
More images & information
Spanish Colonial-Style Carabao Horn & Silver Hat
Luzon, Philippines, 19th century
19th century
Inventory no.: 1067
More images & information
Three Copper & Brass Hairpins
West Africa, probably Benin Kingdom
19th century
Inventory no.: 1069
More images & information
Two Polyhedral Garnet Counters or Weights
West Africa
19th century
Inventory no.: 1081
More images & information
Indo-Portuguese Open-work Brass Casket with Silk-Velvet Lining
17th-18th century
Portuguese India
Inventory no.: 1084
More images & information
Brass Spanish or Dutch Colonial Stirrups
Spanish South America or Dutch Suriname
17th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1085
More images & information
Magnificent Carved Ebony Box
Sri Lanka
early 19th century
Inventory no.: 1100
More images & information
Spanish Colonial Tooled Leather & Wood Chest with Iron Fittings
Peru
late 17th century
Inventory no.: 1101
More images & information
Silver-gilt Filigree Casket
Batavia or possibly China
circa 1750
Inventory no.: 1117
More images & information
Fine Silver Filigree Betel Box (Pandan)
Deccan, India
circa 1760-1780
Inventory no.: 1127
More images & information
Silver Filigree Dish
probably Goa or Karimnagar, India
late 17th century
Inventory no.: 1177
More images & information
Amboyna Burr Wood Betel Box with Silver Mounts
Dutch Colonial Batavia, Indonesia
18th century
Inventory no.: 1208
More images & information
Parcel-Gilt Silver Filigree Turkey-Form Incense Burner (Sahumador)
Peru, probably Ayucucho
19th century
Inventory no.: 1198
More images & information
Engraved Silver Yerba Mate Cup
Argentina
Second half of the 19th century
Inventory no.: 1204
More images & information
Engraved Silver Mate Leaves Container (Yerbera)
Argentina
18th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1238
More images & information
Heavy Jesuit Silver Box & Chain
Ottoman Greece or Balkans
18th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1175
More images & information
Two Engraved Brass Betel or Tobacco Boxes
Sri Lanka
18th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1203
More images & information
Rosewood Perfume Chest Inlaid with Brass with Six Cut Glass Perfume Bottles
probably Chiniot, Colonial India
circa 1880
Inventory no.: 1264
More images & information
Dutch Colonial Ebony Chair
Ambon or Batavia, Indonesia
circa 1680
Inventory no.: 1296
More images & information
Woven Cane Jewellery Basket with Engraved Silver Mounts (Vel-pettiya)
Kandy, Sri Lanka
18th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1293
More images & information
Woven Cane Jewellery Basket with Brass Mounts (Vel-pettiya)
Kandy, Sri Lanka
18th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1292
More images & information
Silver 'Star Anise' Filigree Dutch Colonial Betel or Jewellery Box
Provenance: The Estate of HM Queen Juliana of The Netherlands
Batavia, Indonesia
circa 1760
Inventory no.: 1284
More images & information
Gilded Filigree Card Case
Orissa, India
circa 1820
Inventory no.: 1267
More images & information
Colonial Chair
possibly Dutch Colonial
18th-19th century
Inventory no.: 1235
More images & information
Engraved Silver Dutch Colonial Tobacco or Betel Box
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
18th century
Inventory no.: 1353
More images & information
Exceptionally Rare Colonial Crocodile Ivory Snuff Container in the form of a Mestiza Woman, with Silver Mounts
Portuguese Goa, India
late 17th century
Inventory no.: 1390
More images & information
Rare Polychrome & Gilt Ivory Image of St Francis Xavier
Spanish Colonial Philippines, or Goa
18th century
Inventory no.: 1441
More images & information
Teak Betel Box with Silver Mounts
Batavia or Sri Lanka
18th century
Inventory no.: 1397
More images & information
Indo-Portuguese Solid Ivory Our Lady of the Conception
Goa, India
17th-18th century
Inventory no.: 1444
More images & information
Solid Ivory St Francis of Assisi
Spanish Colonial Philippines
18th century
Inventory no.: 1445
More images & information
Tortoiseshell & Filigree Silver Box
probably Dutch Colonial Batavia
circa 18th century
Inventory no.: 1476
More images & information
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From where do we source our items? We do not go on buying trips to Asia or elsewhere. Nor do we actively buy from dealers or suppliers based in Asia. We do
not source items from India itself for example. Almost all the items stocked by Michael Backman Ltd have been sourced from the UK - from old collections - and
sometimes from the rest of western Europe. Countless items were brought to the UK during the colonial era by colonial administrators and the like. Other items were
made in Asia for export to the UK – the UK was wealthy early: it has been a major destination for the world’s exports for hundreds of years.  This means that most of
our items have been in the UK for at least sixty to two hundred years.

The conditions in which they have been kept often has been very good – the climate is kind, and there are relatively few pests. Many items were acquired as
keepsakes and curios, meaning that they stopped being used once they came to the UK. This too has helped to preserve them and their conditions often are far
better than had they remained in their home countries. Buying from old UK sources means that the items have good provenance; it helps to avoid fakes, and items
that have been amended or embellished. It also means that our items are obtained legally – today, most countries in Asia prohibit the export of their antiques. So,
because of its colonial past, the UK is perhaps the world’s biggest source of genuine antiques from Asia, perhaps more so than Asia itself, and that is the source into
which we tap.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Namban Lacquer Coffer made for Portuguese Market
Japan
1575-1615
Inventory no.: 1574
More images & information
Portuguese-Inspired Flemish or Vlaams Heart Pendant in Silver & Gold with Rose Cut Diamonds
Belgium, probably Antwerp
circa 1815
Inventory no.: 1562
More images & information
Indo-Portuguese Silver Filigree Paan Box
Goa, India
17th century
Inventory no.: 1554
More images & information
Jesuit Baluster Vase for the Portuguese Colonial Market
China
late 19th century
Inventory no.: 1576
More images & information