Boxer Codex

The ''Boxer Codex'' is a late sixteenth century Spanish manuscript that was produced in the Philippines. The document contains seventy-five colored illustrations of the peoples of China, the Philippines, Java, the Moluccas, the Ladrones, and Siam. About 270 pages of Spanish text describe these places, their inhabitants and customs. An additional eighty-eight smaller drawings show mythological deities and demons, and both real and mythological birds and animals copied from popular Chinese texts and books in circulation at the time.

The eminent historian, Charles Ralph Boxer, purchased the manuscript in 1947 from the collection of Lord Ilchester in London. Boxer recognized the importance of what he called the "Manila Manuscript" and published a paper in 1950 with a detailed description of the codex. He made the manuscript freely available to other researchers for study and it became known as the "Boxer Codex" in recognition of its owner. Eventually Boxer sold the codex to Indiana University where it is held by the Lilly Library.

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Description and contents

The manuscript was written circa 1590 and contains illustrations of ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnic groups across Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Micronesia at the time of the early Spanish contact. It also contains Taoist mythological deities and demons, and both real and mythological birds and animals copied from popular Chinese texts and books in circulation at the time. Aside from a description of, and historical allusions to what is now the Philippines and various other Far Eastern countries, the codex also contains 97 hand-drawn color paintings and illustrations depicting peoples, birds and animals (both real and mythological) of the Philippines, the Indonesian Archipelago, Japan, Taiwan, China and mainland Southeast Asia. It has been pointed out more than once that the depictions of peoples from the Far East are the first ever created for European eyes. The first illustration is an oblong fold-out, 74 are full-page colored illustrations and the remaining are arranged four to a page on 22 pages (with some of the quarters remaining blank). Most of the drawings appear to have been copied or adapted from materials brought to the Philippines from China by Martin de Rada: the '' Shānhǎi Jīng'' (山海经, '' The Classic of Mountains and Seas''), and books from the '' shenmo'' (神魔) genre, which depict deities and demons. The remaining drawings represent individuals, often a male and female pair, as inhabitants from tributaries of China and Taiwan with their distinctive costume; some of these have been refashioned as warriors. The depictions of inhabitants from Chinese tributaries may have been copied from a pre-existing source, drawn from memory or perhaps even drawn according to instruction given by Rada or one of the other Europeans who visited China.Souza & Turley, 2015 At least fifteen illustrations deal with the inhabitants of the Philippine Archipelago..

History and provenance

The Boxer Codex does not bear any direct statement of authorship or dates of production and there is no dedication that might indicate who was the patron of the work or for whom the work was intended. Based on the contents of the manuscript, it can be inferred that it was written in Manila during the early 1590s. The manuscript was likely compiled at the direction of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, or his son, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas.Souza, 2015

The Boxer Codex depicts the Tagalogs, Visayans, Zambals, Cagayanes or possibly Ibanags, and Negritos of the Philippines in vivid color. The technique of the paintings, as does the use of Chinese paper, ink, and paints, suggests that the unknown artist may have been Chinese.

It is believed that the original owner of the manuscript was Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, son of Governor General Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines. Luis succeeded his father in office as Governor-General of the Philippines. Since Spanish colonial governors kept extensive written reports of the territories they governed, it is likely that the manuscript was written under the orders of the governor..

The manuscript's earliest known modern owner was Lord Ilchester. The codex was among what remained in his collection when his estate, Holland House in London, suffered from German bombing on September 27, 1940 during the Blitz. The manuscript was auctioned in 1947 and came into the possession of Professor Charles Ralph Boxer, an authority on the Far East, and after whom the document is named. It is now owned by the Lilly Library at Indiana University.

Picture gallery of the illustrations in Boxer Codex

Natives of the Philippines

^{(All Captions Below Based on Source)}

File:Cagayan Woman.png, A Lady from the Cagayan Valley (Possibly Ibanag)
File:Cagayan Warrior.png, Warrior from Cagayan Valley (Possibly Ibanag)
File:玳瑁 Taipue - Unknown couple - Boxer Codex (1590).jpg, Couple with tied long hair and Kampilan hilt from Taimei Anchorage, Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines (Possibly Pangasinense)
File:Zambals 1.png, Zambal hunters from Zambales
File:Zambals 2.png, Zambal hunters hunting
File:Zambals 3.png, A couple belonging to the Zambal warrior-hunter class. The image shows a culture of falconry
File:Negritos.png, ''Aeta'' or ''Negrito'' hunters
File:Naturales 4.png, Tagalog royalty in red (the distinctive color of his class) with his wife.
File:Naturales 3.png, Tagalog royal couple in red, the distinctive color of their class.
File:Naturales 5.png, Tagalog '' maginoo'' (noble class) wearing blue (the distinctive color of his class) with his wife.
File:Naturales 2.png, Native common women wearing simple clothes and headscarves (likely Muslims from Maynila in the 1500s)
File:Native of Visayan origin.jpg, A Native '' Binukot'' Lady (Possibly Visayan)
File:Visayans 4.png, Visayan ''kadatuan'' (royal) couple
File:Visayans 3.png, Visayan '' kadatuan'' (royal) with his wife wearing red, the distinctive color of their class.
File:Visayans 2.png, A Pintado (Possibly Cebuano or Waray) couple of the '' timawa'' or '' tumao'' (martial-feudal class; later demoted to freedman status)
File:Visayans 1.png, Pintados (Possibly Cebuano or Waray) from Bohol, showing their ''patok'' or tattoos
File:Naturales 1.png, Native Visayan '' uripon'' (slaves) adorned with gold.

Foreigners throughout the world

^{(All Captions Below Based on Source)}

File:Unknown couple in the Philippines.jpg, Tatar

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