Provenance: Probably from Laguna

ABOUT THE WORK

Although a four-poster bed with a tester was a standard piece of furniture in the Master Bedroom of colonial houses, it was also considered a status symbol. Those that were elaborately carved and had a complex tester imparted a higher status to its owne.r This narra bed stands on four turned baluster-type legs on bun feet. The legs have turned rings above and below a shaft carved with reeds on the upper two-thirds of it. Reels on top of the legs support a bed frame embellished with a border of four wide parallel half-round moldings at the edges. The mattress support of the bed is of rattan. The bedposts consist of a turned, attenuated amphora-shaped vase carved with reeds with reels and rings above and below. It is surmounted by removable tester supports that consist of turned tapering shafts carved with a rope-like design and topped by a ring which becomes an elongated bud that supports the wooden blocks diagonally placed above the tester supports. The tester has a serpentine outline on all four sides which have an entablature consisting of a wide cymatium molding and a corona beneath the flat molding appliquéd to the upper edges. The corona is appliquéd with a series of stubby molding with rounded bottoms that look like dentils. The upper and lower corners of the tester are decorated above and below with pierced multi-lobed panels elaborately carved with leafy scrolls. The arcs on the sides of tester are surmounted by a wide pierced multi-lobed panel carved with a large peony amidst leafy scrolls that taper towards the sides. The presence of the peony and the way it is rendered indicates that the craftsman who made the bed was a Chinaman. The bed’s headboard and foot-board consists of frames edged with molding that have pierced panels carved with different foliate and floral designs. The headboard is made up of two central horizontal panels, one above the other, flanked by a vertical panel on either side. Crowning the piece is a wide crest crowning that tapers downward towards the sides. The narrower central panel at the bottom of the headboard features a central flower flanked by symmetrical foliate scrolls and half of a flower at either end. The bigger panel above has a sytlized vase in the middle from which sprout a floral sprig from which spring vines than meander symmetrically on either side with varying leaf and flower terminals. A pair of birds can be seen on the lower part at the sides. The vertica l side panels have leafy scrolls with a trumpet flower and vines that seem to have sprung from a worm’s poo. The crest has a large footed bowl at the center containing a lush plant and vines meandering and scrolling on either side in graceful symmetry with various kinds of leaf and flower terminals. The foot-board consists of a wooden frame edged with molding and has no crest. It has a lower register of turned spindles surmounted by a pair of symmetrically carved and pierced panels. The latter is carved in the form of a leaf scroll with a trumpet flower from which emanates leafy vines terminating in buds and flowers. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.