Ceremonial food serving set

Each layer of this elaborate ceremonial serving set contains a wide bowl (with a lid that cannot be seen) decorated with different scrolling floral and geometric patterns. The bowls were presumably used as serving containers for communal meals. The large kettle would have provided water for washing hands before and after the meal.

Objects made of brass were considered signs of status and wealth among the Maranao peoples of the southern Philippine region of Mindanao. A report from the early twentieth century describes a local ruler's home containing more than two hundred brass objects, including boxes, trays, jars and other containers. While this serving set was collected in the Philippines, similar types of brassware were also produced in the nearby Islamic kingdom of Brunei on the island of Borneo. For centuries the exchange of trade and ideas has flowed between the southern Philippines and the neighboring regions of island Southeast Asia.