PROPERTY FORMERLY FROM THE ROMEO JORGE COLLECTION

Provenance:
Romeo Jorge Collection

ABOUT THE WORK

Every house during the colonial period had an altar with a cross, with the more affluent households having crucifixes with the corpus carved in ivory. Albeit missing the crucifix, this ivory corpus is of an unusually large size and must have belonged to a very rich family. The corpus follows the curve of the ivory tusk and is beautifully carved in the Cristo Expirante or ‘expiring’ pose. The corpus is in perfect condition and shows Christ looking up to heaven with His mouth gently open and displaying finely carved teeth. He seems to be asking God, “Why hast Thou abandoned Me?” The exquisitely carved face has heavy-lidded eyes that are exceptionally well carved and a beard with every strand of hair delineated. The face is very oriental in aspect, with the hair and beard very typical of Philippine religious carvings of the colonial period. The hands and feet of the statue are well carved and in perfect condition. The image of the crucified Christ wears a crown of thorns and has three groups of potencias, all in 22-karat gold, the rays emanating from the pate that symbolize Christ’s potencies or power. The form of the potencia follows those made in the 2nd half of the 18th century, with rays emanating from an oval cartouche formed by foliate C-scrolls. The ivory corpus wears 22-karat gold perizonium or loincloth, locally called a bahag or tapis, elaborately embossed and chased. The shield-shaped INRI, however, is bordered by swags of highly embossed and chased flowers and leaves, also of 22-karat gold.