Provenance: Provenance: A Batangueño family in Makati City

ABOUT THE WORK

The kapiya (long bench) was typically found in the bahay–na–bato, churches, convents, and offices. The majority were plain, utilitarian pieces, but some were deliberately artistic productions like this elegant example from Batangas province made of deep red tindalo hardwood of exceptional lustre. This kapiya (long bench) of simple, forthright Beijing style construction stretches to a total length of 328 centimeters / 129 inches. The back is composed of two long horizontal bars connected by multiple vertical splats topped by plain square finials atop truncated balusters on both sides, supported by the three full–height straight rear legs on the sides and in the center. Attached to the long back on both sides with visible dowels are wide 1” inch–thick arms of cutwork horizontal C– scroll design. Both arms are supported by plain bars connected to the seat with Chinese–style brackets attached on the outer sides ostensibly for added support to the arms. The seat alone is a spectacular 3.175 centimeters/1.25” inches thick and almost 300 centimeters/118.11” inches long plank of lustrous, deep red tindalo hardwood. The seat is lengthened in front by a seemingly decorative molding 2” inches in width, certainly attached with dowels, but which actually adds depth and comfort to the seating. Underneath the seat on both sides The Classic Clean Lines of A Kapiya by Augusto Marcelino Reyes Gonzalez III and in the center are short bars to which the six legs --- the three short ones in front and the three long ones at the rear --- are joined. The three straight front legs are reinforced by simplified Chinese–style brackets which date stylistically to the second half of the eighteenth century. The front legs on both sides are connected to the rear legs by stretchers for added strength. Perhaps as an afterthought (or even as the maker’s identification?), four small brass nails (antique) were hammered on to the center rear leg ostensibly for added support of the long seat. During his lifetime, Osmundo Esguerra (“Omeng”) only had to look at and feel a piece of wood in order to know its species and approximate age. In the case of Batangas mesa altar (altar tables) and kapiya (long benches) crafted from deep red tindalo hardwood, Omeng often took the patina/maturity, density, thickness, and the large dimensions of the wood (apart from construction, of course) as indicators of great age and authenticity. Omeng Esguerra and Ramon “Boy” Villegas knew from economic history that by the turn of the twentieth century 1890–1910, large, mature pieces of narra, tindalo, balayong, molave, and kamagong woods were no longer readily available in Manila and even in the major provincial capitals for furniture production, and that the dimensions of what were available had become short and narrow. The great period of classical Filipino furniture production 1700–1900 had come to an end. The most extensive and impressive collection of antique Batangas furniture, classical and primitive, is in the Paulino and Hetty Que collection. Acknowledgments: Ramon N. Villegas Osmundo Esguerra Terry Baylosis Antonio Martino Maria Cristina C. Ongpin–Roxas