63

IsabeloTampinco y Lacandola, while taking courses at the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura, Manila’s art academy, drew the admiration of Jose Rizal for his work in a Modeling Class, wherein they were classmates. Later hailed as one of the most outstanding sculptors of his time, Tampinco garnered many awards and prizes in local and international exhibitions in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Madrid and Barcelona. Tampinco was principally known as a laborista, a carver of ornament, because of the doors, altars, ceilings and other decorations he made for the Manila Cathedral and the churches of Sto. Domingo and San Ignacio in Intramuros. He also did decorative carvings for private homes like transoms, picture frames and even furniture. Later, he made statues of saints and angels in wood, plaster of Paris, concrete and marble. At the turn-of-the-20th century, when Art Noveau became fashionable, he created a uniquely Filipino style by incorporating native flora and fauna designs in his calado or pierced transoms. His sinuous openwork and whiplash outlines in woodcarving abounded with the anahaw, areca palm, gabi or taro leaves and bamboo. It came to a point that any frame or piece furniture decorated with these was instantly labeled as by ‘Tampinco’. In the early 20th century, Tampinco often worked in conjuction with Emilio Alvero, an architect who was the most popular interior designer of the day and the foremost exponent of Art Nouveau in the Philippines. The two artists collaborated on many major works, the Bautista-Tanjosoy House in Malolos and the Villavicencio-Marella House in Taal, among them. In both these houses, Alvero designed the furniture and Tampinco executed them. On the other hand, Máximo Sison Viola of San Miguel, Bulacan was studying medicine in the University of Barcelona, when he met Jose Rizal and became his best friend in Europe. They both became involved in the Propaganda Movement and when Viola learned that Rizal was having difficulty in publishing the ‘Noli Me Tangere’ due to the delay of his allowance. Viola sought Rizal and offered to lend him the money needed to have the book published. When Rizal finally received his allowance from Manila, the P1,000 sent by his brother, Paciano, not only enabled him to repay Viola, but also invite him on a tour across Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland from May to June 1887. Soon after, Viola returned to the Philippines to practice his profession as a doctor. Rizal finally received his allowance from Manila after the book was published. The P1,000 sent by his brother, Paciano, not only enabled him to repay Viola, but also invite him on a tour across Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland from May to June 1887. Soon after, Viola returned to the Philippines to practice his profession as a doctor. Viola met Rizal briefly in Manila in 1892 and returned home to find that his home had been searched by the Spaniards who suspected him of having links with the secessionist movement. When the Philippine Revolution broke out, he joined the Katipuneros in Biak-na-Bato. After the Philippine-American War, he was imprisoned in a military prison in Manila by the Americans and later transferred to Olongapo. There, Viola was freed by Dr. Fresnell, an American doctor who asked for Viola's assistance in treating American soldiers who had tropical diseases, which he did not know how to treat. Viola’s hobby of making furniture from kamagong in his later years garnered him an award in an exposition in Manila in 1920. This bed is a collaborative work between IsabeloTampinco and Emilio Alvero, who undoubtedly designed the footboard and the and the diamond-shaped cartouche incised with the date ‘1909’ on its reverse side. The bed stands on feet carved in the shape of an inverted and truncated trunk of an arecaor bonga palm emanating from a quadrant at each corner carved with a spray of anahaw leaves. The bed frame, in the form of a corona of an entablature, is carved with a serrated frieze of joined, upended triangles incised with diamond-shaped depressions that give an impression of stylized anahaw leaves. A boss is carved below the junction of each triangle, while a cymatium molding decorates the upper edge of the bedframe. The mattress support is caned in one piece. The footposts, carved in the shape of a short areca palm, has a crownshaft terminating in a stylized ionic capital consisting of a small anahaw leaf on a thorny stem at the center flanked by an ionic scroll. The posts flank a wide narra plank forming the footboard that is carved with a central design of a diamond-shaped frame consisting of four bamboo canes tied together with rattan strips. A garland of sampaguitas and ylang-ylang is entwined and hangs from the upper canes. Surrounding the bamboo frame are whiplash vines bearing camote leaves and flowers, while small anahaw leaf quadrants are carved at the corners. The entire ground of the footboard is stippled. An entablature above the posts and footboard is carved with a small anahaw leaf with a thorny stalk on the block above the post and a frieze of a coconut frond, a banana leaf and bamboo twigs tied at the center with a ribbon, both on an entirely stippled ground. The cymatium molding above the corona is topped with a beveled edge. The tall bedpost supporting the headboard and the tester is shaped like a full-grown areca palm trunk supporting a stylized ionic capital like that on the bedpost at the foot. The headboard, consisting of an extremely wide narra plank, is framed by a pilaster with molded vertical edges and a capital in the form of an inverted anahaw leaf. The former is carved with a central cartouche in the form of a scroll following the outline of a gabi or taro leaf enclosing an inverted clump of miniature traveler’s palm leaves emanating from an anahaw leaf at the top. At the bottom of the panel, beneath the cartouche, is carved a bird’s nest with a pair of eggs. Leafy, intertwined branches abloom with Chinese roses meander on either side of the cartouche to fill the headboard. A pair of doves are perched on the vines, that on the left holding a ribbon tied in a lover’s knot in its beak, while the one on the right has a wide band inscribed with ‘Felicidades’ or ‘Congratulations’. These symbols indicate that the bed was most probably a gift to Maximo Viola on the occasion of a wedding anniversary. An entablature similar to that at the foot is surmounted by a wide crest consisting of a large spray of roses realistically carved in the round and topped by an acroterion superimposed with an anahaw leaf. Symmetrically arranged on either side are realistically carved jungle ferns, coconut fronds and banana leaves. Above the pilaster at either end is an acroterion in the form of a palmette carved with a small anahaw leaf with a thorny stalk inside its scrolled outline. At the top of the headpost is a half-tester supported by a carved console in the shape of a banana leaf. The frame of the tester is in the form of an entablature running around three sides, all carved with like those of the head and footboards with a frieze of a coconut frond, a banana leaf and bamboo twigs tied at the center with a ribbon on an entirely stippled ground. The latticed tester or canopy is carved with an anahaw leaf at each intersection. Instead of the usual fabric covering the top of the tester, rattan caning is used, an unusual and unique innovation. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.