Provenance: Probably Laguna

ABOUT THE WORK

This mesa altar, entirely of balayong, stands on four unusual feet carved with a leafy scroll that terminate in a triple set of claw feet. The feet are joined at the shoulders by narrow stretchers positioned horizontally; fooling the eye and making it appear that the legs rest on a frame ‘platform’. The four cabriole-type legs above it are carved at the shoulders with demon masks from whose fanged mouth emerge an elongated acanthus leaf that end in three knobby scrolls. The table has a convex apron jig-sawed with a series of ogive cusps and curves that joins the masks together at the front and at the sides. The table has two drawers, each having a keyhole and keyhole shield above a brass handle attached to a chrysanthemum-like boss with a scalloped rim. A simple jigsaw flange with a curvilinear outline of cusps and ogee curves flanks the sides of the mesa altar in front and at the rear. The top is made of a floating balayong panel miter-framed, binandeja-style, by planks carved with a triple molding around the front and side edges. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.