Journey of the Barong Tagalog, Addendum Part 10.14: 19th Century French Artist Illustrations of Life in the Philippines

The illustration here is titled Indiens Pampangos [Natives of Pampanga], 1846, from the Jean Mallat book Les Philippines: Histoire, Géographie, Mœurs, Agriculture, Industrie, et Commerce des Colonies Espagnoles dans l’Océanie. Mallat, Bayot and Lemercier are credited as authors of this drawing. A description of Mallat and Les Philippines is in our previous installment Part 10.12.

This illustration depicts a native Kapampangan couple by the water with a ship in the distance in the background. They are wearing work clothing in the same indigo color with red embroidery, and they are both carrying multiple items in both hands. They are possibly vendors selling goods by the sea to travelers.

The woman wears a long sleeve baro (top) with the sleeves rolled up, a long saya (skirt) that extends to the ankles, a tapis (overskirt) over the saya, a necklace with pendant, earrings, and a hair accessory. The patterned scarf, veil or kerchief on her head appears to be haphazardly sitting there.

The man wears a long sleeve barong with embroidery around the front opening and down the center, wide leg (saya saya) pants extending down to the ankles, and a patterned putong on his head.

The Kapampangan clothing shown here is very similar to Tagalog clothing due to their close proximity and Spanish influence.