Cloth Traditions

4th floor, north-east wing gallery

Features the colorful and interesting Philippine traditional textiles from the collection of the National Museum some dated as early as 20th century. This collection includes selected rare textiles that depict exceptional craftsmanship of the Filipinos not commonly found in private collections.

The National Museum collection of traditional Philippine textiles is extraordinary on a number of registers. There exist records for the entry of each of these textiles into the museum, starting from the early years of the 20th century. The precision of these records is noteworthy: because not only the year, but also the month and day of acquisition are documented in many instances, it is possible to refer to information held in a surviving copy of the accession records of the early 20th century museum collection.

This rare collection includes Philippine textile of absolute rarity, and textiles of such exceptional craftsmanship that is not to be matched by specimens in private collections built in the last few decades. But its strength as a collection lies not only in the powerful aesthetic qualities that are self-evident in this permanent exhibition. A variety of weaving, dyeing, embroidery and other decorative techniques are represented in this display of traditional Philippine textiles