PROPERTY OF AN OLD SOUTHERN FAMILY

Provenance: Cebu or Bohol

ABOUT THE WORK

Splendor in Ivory by AUGUSTO MARCELINO REYES GONZALEZ III This magnificent ivory and gold Nino Dormido comes from the collection of an old family from Bacolod, Negros Occidental. It could have originated in Bacolod as the town was founded in 1755 but it could have also come from someplace much older and more established like Iloilo (1566), Cebu (1565), or Manila (1565). This Nino Dormido is replete with a bib, two bracelets, a “tapis” apron/diaper, and slippers/sandals --- all 18 karat gold accessories of the dazzling eighteenth century “sala–salamin” type, wherein highly polished bits of gold in almond, diamond, and other rhomboid shapes enclosed by tiny beadwork or rope patterns were superimposed on less polished gold sheets, giving the glittering effect of gemstones. Piling Pelion on Ossa, the accessories were further adorned with “cristal de roca” rock crystal and paste gemstones. Antique ivory Nino Dormido figures, specially those with their original high– karat gold accessories, are currently the most coveted and fashionable acquisitions in the thriving market for antique ivory religious figures in Manila. Spectacular Nino Dormido ensembles can be found in private and even government collections. There are three spectacular Nino Dormido ensembles in the magnificent Paulino and Hetty Que Collection --- a stunning rococo silver fantasy from Vigan, Ilocos Sur (1770s), a stately neoclassical silver one from the Pardo de Tavera estate (early 1800s), and a third exquisite silver one also in neoclassical style (early 1800s) --- as well as a splendid kamagong vitrine filled with various Ninos Dormidos. Although nineteenth century (1860s), there is a spectacular Nino Dormido at the Big House at the Villa Escudero, distinguished by its gold and pearl tiara (actually a reshaped antique “peineta”) and “binanig” woven gold vestment. There is a spectacular and charming nineteenth century Nino Dormido ensemble replete with an entire village scene in blown glass in the highly–selective Antonio Gutierrez–Cecilia Berenguer Collection (1840s, previously in the Antonio Nazareno– Victoria Amalingan Collection). The most spectacular Nino Dormido ensemble is at the National Museum and is the one recovered by a private buyer for the Philippine national government at a London auction. The sleeping ivory Nino is in a magnificent silver filigree bed of Chinese– Filipino workmanship embellished with enamels, ivory, and kingfisher bird feathers (early 1700s) and was the one brought to England by Lieutenant General William Draper after the British Occupation of Manila from 1762–64. The highest point of the Nino Dormido ensembles were found in southern Cebu and in Bohol island during the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. These were fantastic assemblages centering on an ivory Nino Dormido with San Jose and the Virgen Maria likewise in ivory, the Seven Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Barrachiel, Judiel, and Sealtiel in ivory and silver, silver palm and fruit trees, carved wooden farm animals and houses, as well as blown glass figures of townsfolk, animals, houses, trees, and plants all on top of painted halved coconut husks covered with “salagubang” beetle carapaces, “madreperla” mother of pearl shells, and colored glass bits encased in gilded “urnas” wood and glass cases. There is an eighteenth century ivory Nino Dormido with 18 karat gold accessories on an 18 karat gold bed in the Leandro Valencia Locsin–Cecilia Araneta Yulo Collection.