Provenance: Pampanga

ABOUT THE WORK

The guidon, guion in Spanish, was originally a swallow-tailed heraldic flag or banner carried in front of an army battalion to distinguish it from other battalions. In Portugal, however, it was often square in shape, and of such shape were the guiones used in the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish colonization, when both Spain and Portugal were under the rule of Philip II of Spain, until the modern era. Every religious procession during the colonial period was headed by acolytes carrying the ciriales, processional paraphernalia consisting of a guion, a processional cross and a pair of processional candlesticks held aloft on turned wooden staffs. Some very rich parishes had ciriales made entirely of beaten silver which were carried on staffs encased in silver tubes. The cross and the guion, in particular, were often elaborately embossed and chased on both sides, since they were to be seen from all angles. The standard banner, however, was made of wood covered with velvet, appliquéd with an embossed and chased border of silver and decorated at the center of one side with an Agnus Dei or Lamb of God seated on a book with seven seals and carrying a staff with a swallow-tailed banner or guion. The reverse of the banner always featured a pair of angels kneeling on clouds depicted in the act of swinging censers and adoring a monstrance symbolizing the Blessed Sacrament. At the bottom of the guion were attached seven tiny silver bells, signifying the seven sacraments. The angels, monstrance and the Agnus Dei in the middle of the reserves were usually fire-gilded or dorado a fuego, a process wherein pure gold is combined with mercury to form a paste which is then painted over the surface to be gilded. When the object is baked, the mercury oozes out leaving a coating of pure gold on the surface. The process is highly toxic due to the mercury fumes exuded and is seldom used today. As a result, this gilding technique has been forgotten by Philippine artisans. In Europe and the US, an object gilded in this manner is called vermeil. The practice of using a guion in processions became obsolete in modern times, and the pieces eventually ended up in convent storerooms or fell into disrepair. This particular early-19th century guion is a fine example of the silversmith’s art. Only the silver appliqués remained and were attached one above the other on a cloth-lined board for display purposes. The pierced silver border of both faces of this guion is identical on all its sides and features a flower with a double layer of four petals at the center flanked symmetrically on either side by asymmetrical Rococo cartouches seemingly joined together by C-scrolls of various shapes and sizes. At each corner is another rococo cartouche, its mirror image on the other corner joined at the center by a flower with shell-shaped petals that cover the joint. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.