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.

Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones

Islands, ca. 1590

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.

Description and contents

The manuscript was written circa 1590[1] 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.[2] At least fifteen illustrations deal with the inhabitants of the
Philippine Archipelago.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5][2]

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.[5]

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.[3]

Picture gallery of the illustrations in Boxer Codex

Natives of the Philippines

[2](All Captions Below Based on Source)

A Lady from the Warrior from Cagayan Couple with tied long Zambal hunters from
Cagayan Valley Valley (Possibly hair and Kampilan hilt Zambales
(Possibly Ibanag) Ibanag) from Taimei
Anchorage, Lingayen
Gulf, Luzon,
Philippines (Possibly
Pangasinense)

Zambal hunters A couple belonging to Aeta or Negrito Tagalog royalty in red

hunting the Zambal warrior- hunters (the distinctive color
hunter class. The of his class) with his
image shows a wife.
culture of falconry


Tagalog royal couple Tagalog maginoo Native common A Native Binukot Lady
in red, the distinctive (noble class) wearing women wearing (Possibly Visayan)
color of their class. blue (the distinctive simple clothes and
color of his class) headscarves (likely
with his wife. Muslims from
Maynila in the 1500s)

Visayan kadatuan Visayan kadatuan A Pintado (Possibly Pintados (Possibly

(royal) couple (royal) with his wife Cebuano or Waray) Cebuano or Waray)
wearing red, the couple of the timawa from Bohol, showing
distinctive color of or tumao (martial- their patok or tattoos
their class. feudal class; later
demoted to freedman
status)

Native Visayan uripon

(slaves) adorned with
gold.
Foreigners present in the Philippines
[2](All Captions Below Based on Source)

Tatar (Likely Mongol) Manchu Noble with Emperor & Empress Noble Prince and
Noble with Wife from Wife from Dalian of Ming Dynasty Princess from Ming
Tartary (Likely either (then ruled by Ming China Dynasty China
Mongolia or Dynasty China)
Manchuria)

Mandarin Bureaucrat Ming Dynasty Chinese "Sangley" Another Chinese

with Wife from Ming Chinese General with Couple living in "Sangley" Couple
Dynasty Attendant Manila, Philippines living in Manila,
wearing hanfu from Philippines wearing
Ming Dynasty hanfu from Ming
Dynasty


She or Hakka Chinese Japanese Couple Vietnamese Noble Vietnamese Warrior

Merchant with Wife (Possibly with Wife in Manila, with Wife from Hải
from Ming Dynasty Samurai/Ronin) living from Tonkin, Đại Việt Phòng, Tonkin, Đại
China in Manila, Philippines, (Vietnam) under Việt (Vietnam).
wearing yukata with either the Mạc
hair styled in Chinese dynasty or Lê dynasty
fashion, from Japan at that time.
during Nanban trade
era

Vietnamese Noble Cham Couple from Siamese (Thai) Khmer Couple from
with Wife from Quảng Champa (in modern- Warrior with Wife Kampuchea
Nam, Đại Việt day Ninh Thuận, from Siam (Thailand) (Cambodia)
(Vietnam) under the Southern Vietnam)
Nguyễn lords at the
time.


Taiwanese Aboriginal Taiwanese Aboriginal Chamorro Hunter Chamorro Hunter

Headhunter Couple Headhunter Couple from Marianas from Marianas
from Keelung, from Tamsui, Spanish Islands Islands
Spanish Formosa (in Formosa (in modern- (Guam/Northern (Guam/Northern
modern-day Taiwan) day Taiwan) Marianas) with Spear Marianas) with Bow

Warrior with Malay Couple from Bruneian Warrior with Javanese Warrior
Japanese swords and the Terangganu Wife from "Burney" with a spear and
armor, Possibly a Sultanate (in Modern- (Borneo or Brunei) shield from "Iaua"
Mercenary from other day Malaysia) (modern-day Java,
southeast Asian Indonesia)
territories.

Sangirese Warriors Moluccan Warrior

from Siau Island, from the Moluccas (in
Sangir Archipelago (in modern-day Maluku
modern-day North Islands, Indonesia)
Sulawesi, Indonesia)
See also

Códice Casanatense

José Honorato Lozano

Damián Domingo

Juan Luna

Fernando Amorsolo

Fabián de la Rosa

Tipos del Pais

Notes

1. Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (U.S.A.), Catalogue Record of the Boxer Codex (htt
p://www.dlib.indiana.edu/omeka/lilly/items/show/93)

2. Souza & Turley, 2015

3. Roces 1977, p. 1003.

4. Souza, 2015

5. Roces 1977, p. 1004.

References

Boxer, C. R. (1950). "A Late Sixteenth Century Manila MS" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/252223

72) . The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1/2): 37–49. ISSN 0035-
869X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0035-869X) .

Crossley, John N. (2014). "The Early History of the Boxer Codex" (https://www.cambridge.org/cor
e/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/early-history-of-the-boxer-codex/535166D84
33B65E22B6B10116D2097C6) . Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 24 (1): 115–124.
doi:10.1017/S1356186313000552 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS1356186313000552) .
ISSN 1356-1863 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1356-1863) .

Roces, Alfredo R., ed. (1977), "Boxer Codex", Filipino Heritage: the Making of a Nation, vol. IV,
Philippines: Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc.
 Souza, George Bryan; Turley, Jeffrey Scott (2015). The Boxer Codex: Transcription and Translation
of an Illustrated Late Sixteenth-Century Spanish Manuscript (https://www.google.com/books/editio
n/The_Boxer_Codex/_W7sCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1) . Brill. ISBN 978-9004292734.

"Boxer Codex" (http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/omeka/lilly/items/show/93) . The Lilly Library Digital

Collections, Indiana University. Retrieved August 17, 2021.

External links

Record (http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/iucat/VAB8326) Wikimedia Commons has

and manuscript (http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/metsnav/co media related to Boxer
Codex.
mmon/navigate.do?pn=1&size=large&oid=VAB8326) of the
Boxer Codex at Indiana University