PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN

ABOUT THE WORK

The ivory corpus or figure of this crucifix is a “Cristo Moribundo” (“Dead Christ”) as compared to a “Cristo Expirante” (“Dying Christ”). The expression of the face is of resignation, with the mouth slightly open. The hair is well–articulated and the locks detailed. The body is lean, like all Cristos, but not classically Greek or Roman. The arms and the legs are slender, graceful carvings. The draped “tapis” or loincloth of the Christ is beautifully executed. The hands and the feet are sensitively carved and are suitably limp as the Cristo is dead. The right leg is nailed over the left leg in trademark Filipino fashion. The cross itself is of narra wood, stained dark to look like kamagong wood, which offsets the ivory figure well. The three top ends are not characteristically wrapped with silver “cantoneras,” but are encrusted with ivory strips and terminate in round silver finials. There is a plaque with the “INRI” inscription (“Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”) at the top of the cross and the skull and crossbones, symbol of Golgotha (“Place of the Skull”), at the bottom. The whole ensemble is of “Sangley” or Chinese–Filipino production from two hundred years 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 local ivory religious sculpture runs deep in the Filipino 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 de?cor --- 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 “Don?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 (USD 10,000.00).