Provenance: An old Augustinian church; an old family from Batangas

ABOUT THE WORK

This large, rectangular trestle table was part of the standard furnishings in the sacristy of a Roman Catholic church (a trestle table is a table composed of trestle supports linked by a horizontal stretcher on which a tabletop is placed [a trestle is a framework made up of a horizontal beam supported by two pairs of {sloping} legs used in pairs to support a tabletop] ). The impressive “sola pieza” tabletop with mouldings on its sides is one piece of golden narra wood 126” inches/10.5 feet long (320.04 cm/3.2004 m), 42” inches/3.5 feet wide (106.68 cm/1.0668 m), and 2.5” inches thick (6.35 cm) thick. Underneath the table surface are markings of old lime–based red paint for the drawer positions. The table has four drawers on each side, and a total of eight drawers on both sides. The three trestles are made up of large turned baluster supports set on massive plinths; the grooved end plinths terminating in stylized paw, scrolled feet and the simpler central plinth terminating in stylized acanthus feet. All three plinths are connected by one large horizontal turned baluster stretcher (or two). The end plinths are surmounted by big plain finials in their centers and below, where the large horizontal turned baluster stretcher connects, actually carved at the stretcher terminals, the symbol of the burning heart of the Augustinian order (OSA). That alone, along with the age and style of the table, as well as the woods used, places the origins of this table squarely in Batangas province which was Augustinian territory during the Spanish colonial period. Like the huge vestry cabinets also in the sacristy, the “mesa sacristia”/“mesa consistorio” was used mainly to spread and prepare the elaborate vestments of the priests before the holy mass. It was used for the preparation of the various paraphernalia of the holy mass --- the chalice, ciborium, prayer cards and frames, incensorium/ thuribulum (censer), aspersorium and aspergillum (water bucket and sprinkler), etc. It was also used as a table for the veneration of lifesized (usually standing at “metro y diez” = 1 meter 10 centimeters/43.3” inches = 3’ feet 6” inches) and smaller holy images, as well as their cleaning and vesting, as it was thought to be disrespectful or even sacrilegious to clean and prepare holy images directly on the floor. Similar tables can be seen in old photographs of the sacristies of the seven Intramuros churches --- Catedral de La Inmaculada Concepcion de Manila, San Agustin de Hipona (“Agustinos”), San Nicolas de Tolentino (“Recoletos”), San Francisco de Asis (“Franciscanos”), Santo Domingo de Guzman (“Dominicanos”), San Ignacio de Loyola (“Jesuitas”), Nuestra Senora de Lourdes (“Capuchinos”), all except for San Agustin destroyed during World War II (1945). Batangas province was assigned to the Augustinians (OSA) for evangelization and early organization during the Spanish colonial period beginning in 1571. The “parroquia” (parish), “iglesia” (church), and “convent” (convent) of Taal were established under the patronage of San Martin de Torres (Saint Martin of Tours, not San Martin de Porres) in 1572 by Rev Padre Agustin de Albuquerque OSA et al and the original location was lakeside in current San Nicolas town (Taal Lake was still an inlet connected by a wide, navigable channel to Balayan Bay in 1572 with saltwater and tuna and small sharks living in it until the 1754 eruption which finally closed the inlet and turned Taal Lake to freshwater); Balayan under the patronage of San Juan Bautista aka San Juan de Letran in 1579 by Rev Padres Esteban Ortiz OSA and Juan de Porras OSA; Batangas under the patronage of La Inmaculada Concepcion in 1580, which was rich enough to afford a convent of “madera y piedra” (wood and stone); Tanauan under the patronage of San Juan Evangelista in 1584 (the original location currently in Talisay); Sala in 1586 (the original location currently in Tanauan); Bauan under the patronage of Santa Cruz de Bauan in 1596 by Rev Padre Ildefonso Bernal OSA; Lipa under the patronage of San Sebastian Martir in 1605 by Rev Padre Gabriel Rodriguez OSA. During those early days of the Spanish conquest, Tanauan, Bauan, and Lipa could only afford convents of “madera y cana” (wood and thatch). (The previous owners used it as a buffet table in their lanai and afterwards as a table for their serious video gamer sons, as the big table has the capacity to hold all the components for serious video games. Religious use before, techie use now.) by AUGUSTO MARCELINO REYES GONZALEZ III