Chinese merchants and brokers were central to the commercial life of the colonial Philippines, dominating retail trade and the movement of goods between producers and markets. The chino corredor, the Chinese broker or peddler, was a familiar figure in the streets and markets of Manila.
José Honorato Lozano documented this figure as part of his watercolor illustrations of Philippine social life, a body of work produced in the mid-nineteenth century that parallels the tipos del país tradition in its attention to costume, occupation, and social type. The Chino Corredor depicts the Chinese broker in characteristic dress with the goods of his trade, recording the role of the Chinese merchant community in the colonial economy. Lozano worked primarily in Manila and produced illustrations that served as visual records of Philippine society for both local and foreign audiences. His work is considered among the most detailed and culturally specific visual documentation of the Philippines in the Spanish colonial period.
This print preserves a record of the Chinese merchant community that shaped commerce in the colonial Philippines.
Available as a fine art print
→ View print here
