PROPERTY FROM THE DON ANTONIO BANTUG COLLECTION

ABOUT THE WORK

This charming group of “The Holy Family” --- Joseph the father, Mary the mother, and the Child Jesus --- as it is known in the Roman Catholic religion, is a representation of the ideal family life which members of the faith are encouraged to emulate. This interesting example has diminutive polychrome ivory images of Joseph and Mary rendered in characteristic vermilion and teal colors. Joseph has a forelock and a traveling hat, indicators of eighteenth century origins or earlier. Mary has the trademark “suksok” fold at the back of her cloak which is also an indicator of eighteenth century origins or earlier. The Child Jesus is also rendered in solid ivory and has a forelock. They stand on a carved and gilded wooden base characteristic of the period. The whole ensemble is of “Sangley” or Chinese–Filipino production from three centuries ago. It was known from the earliest days of Spanish colonization in the 1570s that the “Sangleyes” (the Chinese) who came to trade and sometimes settle in the islands were trained, excellent craftsmen in ways the “indios” natives were not --- goldsmiths, silversmiths, sculptors, painters, etc. To prevent the “Sangleyes” from gaining control over anything in the colony, the Spaniards instituted periodic pogroms and punishments aimed specifically at the disenfranchised but extremely talented ethnic minority. However, their professional skills were put to good use by the Spanish friars who supervised them in the construction of massive churches and convents and furnishing them suitably. From out of those “Sangley” workshops in the “Parian”ghetto emerged masterpieces in gold, silver, ivory, and wood comparable to what could be found in Europe at that time. The “Sangleyes” were experts at difficult, precise, and detailed work and yet did not ask much for their labor, something which the Spaniards appreciated and used to their advantage. Goldwork, silverwork, ivory sculpture, and exquisite wooden furniture (the spectacular, tortoiseshell–veneered and nacre– inlaid “mueble enconchado” exhibited in Lima, Peru and elsewhere in South America) were of such high quality that the Spaniards deemed them worthy for export to Mexico, Spain, and the Latin American colonies. Religious ivory sculpture in particular, although frequently looking more Oriental than Occidental, found great favor among clerics and affluent citizens, and found welcoming churches and new homes in Mexico, Spain, and the Latin American colonies. Appreciation of antique ivory Filipino religious sculpture runs deep in the nation’s culture and psyche. During the Spanish regime in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, it was considered good form to avoid showing off one’s wealth by way of ostentation --- jewelry, dress, and interior décor --- but perfectly fine to pile on gold and precious stones on one’s “marfiles” ivory processional image(s) and one’s array of smaller ivory images in “virinas” in the “capilla” or home chapel. “Ridiculous” as it sounds, not a few pious “Do?as” (rich, pampered, high society ladies) from Pampanga and Batangas actually complained about not being able to pray earnestly unless the miraculous icon in the altar was of ivory. During the postwar era, heirloom ivory “santos”/“marfiles” were still regarded by their proud “de buena familia” owners as sacramentals but more importantly as reminders of prewar and even 1800s wealth, preeminence, prominence, social position, exclusive circles, snobbery, etc. In the present day, ivory religious images of all sizes and styles are prized by affluent Filipino Roman Catholics, no longer as devotionals/sacramentals, but as widely–recognized status symbols since even a small ivory statuette of the Virgin Mary can set one back by upwards of PHP 500,000.00. The landed Bantug family of Hinigaran, Negros Occidental has a long history of art and antique collecting stretching back to the early 1900s when their grandfather Don Antonio Bantug was one of the pioneering art and antique collectors of his generation which included Felipe Kleimpell Hidalgo, Domingo Lerma, Arturo Cabarrus de Santos, Victoria Ledesma Lopez–Araneta, Arsenio Marasigan Escudero, and other prewar collectors. Don Antonio’s son Antonio Bantug Jr (known as “Tony”) and his wife Asuncion Lopez–Rizal (known as “Ciony,” grandniece of national hero Jose P. Rizal) continued the art and antique collecting and their generation included Leandro and Cecilia Locsin, Luis Ma. Zaragoza Araneta, Marie–Theresa Gallardo Lammoglia–Virata (known as “Bebe”), Manuel and Rosarito Agustines, Antonio Tuason, Consuelo Paterno Madrigal (known as “Chito”), and other postwar collectors. Among the memorable, great treasures of the Bantugs was the entire 1700s main retablo (main altar) of the San Jose de Recoletos church in Cebu demolished in 1965 and the justly famous solid ivory statuette of “La Immaculada Concepcion,” the single most beautiful tabletop image of the Virgin Mary in existence.