Manila Aparador
2nd Quarter of the 19th Century
Kamagong, Narra and Lanite
H: 71” x L : 50” x W: 21” (180 cm x 127 cm x 53 cm)
Opening bid: P 1,200,000
Provenance:
Manila
Property formerly in the Romeo Jorge Collection
Lot 125 of the Leon Gallery Auction on 9 June 2018. Please see leon-gallery.com/ for more details.
Kamagong furniture was only for the very rich. Aside from the material being very hard to find, the density and hardness of the wood made it extremely difficult to work with. Artisans working with kamagong had to sharpen their tools almost every half hour and a wrong move during carving usually resulted in a chipped chisel blade.
Furthermore, kamagong sawdust was very fine and tended to get into the pores of the skin, making it itch. When wide, kamagong panels were unavailable, narra was often used in conjunction with kamagong. This particular cabinet has a narra carcass with kamagong accents on the front and a kamagong entablature. The base of the cabinet is supported at the corners by four turned, vase-shaped kamagong feet, each supporting a wide spool decorated with three half-round moldings, three-quarters of which is diagonally engaged to the front corners.
The cabinet has a narra apron board in front shaped like an inverted truncated pediment that is bordered with lanite line-inlay and decorated at the center with a wide lanite marquetry panel consisting of symmetrical leafy scrolls terminating in a flower.
The main front of the cabinet consists of a pair of narra door panels, framed in kamagong. On each of the outer vertical outer frames are free-standing, thin kamagong colonnette on a turned, vase-shaped base and a similar urn-shaped capital.
Each door has a large silver pull. The door panels consist of a single narra plank carved with an oblong panel with corners in the shape of two quadrants joined together to form a cusp, the latter line-inlaid with an inner border of lanite that forms an axe shape at the corners. The kamagong entablature follows the rectangular shape of the carcass and is topped with a cymatium molding. The front corners are accented by a three-quarter round drum which is the top of the colonnette.
The upper & lower borders of the entire entablature are inlaid in front and at the sides in lanite with a row of disks between parallel line inlays. Between them is a frieze of meandering lanite vines with flowers, leaves and buds of various sizes arranged symmetrically on either side of a central large flower.
The leaves and flowers are incised with black lines to give depth to the design and are definitely inspired by patterns found in embroidery and silver work of that era. A turned, urn-shaped finial tops the front corner drums.
When opened, four shelves are exposed with a pair of drawers side by side at the bottom. The placement of the drawers is rather unusual, as most aparadores have their drawers beneath the middle shelf. Each drawer is equipped with a brass ring pull.
-Martin I. Tinio, Jr.
