Provenance: Provenance: Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Kamagong furniture was only for the very rich. Aside from the material being very hard to find, the density and hardness of the wood made it extremely difficult to work with. Artisans working with kamagong had to sharpen their tools almost every half hour and a wrong move during carving usually resulted in a chipped chisel blade. Furthermore, kamagong sawdust was very fine and tended to get into the pores of the skin, making it itch. This aparador stands on four turned, vase-shaped feet. The front ones attached diagonally to the front corners of the cabinet are surmounted by a thin colonnette tapering upwards to an attenuated vase-shaped capital carved with acanthus leaves carrying a drum-shaped entablature. The cabinet has an apron board in front and at the sides, formed in the shape of an inverted truncated pediment that is bordered with line-inlay and decorated at the center with a C-scroll with scalloped outer edges lying on its side and a pair of intertwined S-scrolls above it forming stylized bat wings, the Chinese symbol of good fortune. The base of the cabinet extends slightly over the front and sides of the carcass and has a semicircular protrusion on either side that corresponds to the shape of the engaged colonnette above it. The surface of the extension is incised with a molding, while the sides are inlaid with a series of carabao-bone discs with a dot in the center. The front of the cabinet consists of a pair of framed door panels, flanked on either side by an engaged attenuated colonnette on a turned, urn-shaped base and topped by a stylized Corinthian capital. The door frames, embellished at each edge with a border of lanite line-inlay, one has a turned kamagong pull inlaid with a silver disc at the center. The right door has an oval silver keyhole shield. The door panels consist of several narrow kamagong planks ingeniously joined together to form a pleasing pattern of light and dark wood. The fact that the joints of the door panels are not discernable attests to the skill of the artisan who made the cabinet. When opened, four shelves are revealed and at the bottom are two drawers. The sides of the cabinet are solid planks decorated with parallel lanite line-inlay in the form of a large oblong with quadrant corners. The entablature follows the rectangular shape of the carcass and is topped with a cymatium molding inlaid at the top with a row of bone discs similar to that found on the base of the cabinet. The entablature follows the attached cylindrical-shapes above the colonnettes and is topped with a cymatium molding. It has upper and lower borders inlaid in lanite with a row of disks between parallel line inlays. Between them is a frieze of meandering lanite vines with flowers, leaves and buds of various sizes arranged symmetrically on either side of a central large flower. The leaves and flowers are incised with black lines to give depth to the design and are definitely inspired by patterns found in embroidery and silver work of that era. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr