1942 / Oil on canvas / 63.5 x 48.25 cm / Artist: Jorge Pineda / Jorge B. Vargas Museum collection, University of the Philippines Diliman

This is a painting by turn-of-the-century master Pineda, also an outstanding illustrator of his time. The style of Sungkaan reveals his training at the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura (Academy of Drawing and Painting), which stressed the modeling of the figure in light and dark. Skilled in anatomical rendering, Pineda was a realist who did not idealize his figures. He was also one of the early genre artists to choose indigenous games for subject. In this work, two elderly figures in light native dress, possibly husband and wife, are shown playing sungka, an indoor Asian game played on a sungkaan, a wooden device with seven hollows on each side and two larger hollows on both ends where one successively drops in or scoops up cowrie shells, the winner amassing the greater number. While the subject in itself is simple, the work was not meant to be only an illustration of the game but a fully accomplished painting. The two players are seated facing each other by the large capiz window, which provides light and ventilation to the room. It is the old woman’s turn, her eyes focused on the game; both show an intense absorption. The light falls on her fully visible face profile; the man’s profile is in backlighting. Tonal contrast is brought out between the bright outdoors with plants in the sunlight, and the shadowy indoors. It was Pineda’s interest in genre to portray a mood of concentration, suggesting the spirit within, rather than figures in action.