Provenance: Ilocos

ABOUT THE WORK

The statue of the Immaculate Conception was made together with the accompanying St. Joseph. Its ivory face and hands are somewhat primitively carved with decidedly Chinese features. The body of the image is a wooden mannequin clothed in satin elaborately embroidered with gold thread. The blue satin of the cape has deteriorated and only the lining is visible in most parts, although the metallic embroidery, somewhat tarnished, is still in excellent condition. The Virgin wears a wig of human hair and has a silver-gilt crown embossed and chased with an elaborate floral and foliate design usually seen in peinetas or combs of the period. The image has earrings and a halo with twelve stars, the latter being one of the symbols of the Blessed Virgin. The statue stands on a globe on which a snake with a golden apple in its mouth is entwined. The Virgin seems to be trampling on the snake which represents Satan and the Original Sin. The base or peana of the statue is in the form of a socket or pescante for a hurricane lamp used in the andas or processional floats of the period. The stylized flowers that decorate the base is typical of the Ilocos. The gilding of base is in pristine condition. This statue of San Jose was made to accompany that of the Immaculate Conception previously described. Like the latter, its ivory face and hands are somewhat primitively carved and show a decidedly Chinese influence in its features. Its wooden mannequin body is clothed in satin elaborately embroidered with gold thread. The satin of the cape and tunic have deteriorated, although the metallic embroidery, now somewhat tarnished, is in good condition. The image is wearing a wig of human hair with a silver halo stuck to its pate and carries a flowering silver-gilt staff in its right hand. The statue stands on a beautifully carved urn-shaped base or peana carved with two layers of overlapping acanthus leaves, supported by a smaller acanthus molding in the opposite direction at the bottom. The foot of the base is decorated with a gadroon border and the whole is covered with a thick layer of gold leaf in pristine condition. The statues are encased in a glass virina or container. The fashion of enclosing statues in glass domes occurred after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, when glass domes containing cloth or beaded flower arrangements or stuffed exotic birds were imported from France. Somebody had the bright idea that the hermetically sealed containers would protect the statues from dirt and prevent the tarnishing of the gold embroidery. This particular virina, because of its shape, is called a ‘Coca Cola’ virina today. It was originally a hurricane lamp used in the late 18th and early 19th century to prevent the lights of candles on candlesticks from being snuffed out by a gust of wind. When oil lamps became fashionable, the hurricane lamp, which was no longer in use, was recycled to house the image, and a beautifully carved wooden base and cover were made for it. The base, carved with three layers of gilded friezes, features a wide central one of gilded leaves and berries bordered by a wide gadroon border above a red band and a similar narrow one beneath a blue band. The cover is decorated with a wide frieze of open flowers on a blue ground surmounted by another, narrower frieze of flowers with bud centers. A bud-like finial terminates the cover. Profusely gilded, this virina, one of the most elaborate that ever came out in the market, would have made a spectacular addition to the family altar. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.