Provenance:
Carlos family of Apalit, Pampanga;
Private collection; Private collection;
Distinguished collector

ABOUT THE WORK

In the battlegrounds of collecting exceptional antique Filipino furniture, the Holy Grails are the late eighteenth century “Batangas Uno” mesa altar and the early nineteenth century Kamagong Aparador. The two types represent the very best of materials and craftsmanship --- Philippine hardwoods and Filipino artistry and expertise. Kamagong or Ebony is native to Southeast Asia. It once grew abundantly in dense and humid Philippine forests. It is a dense, close–grained dark hardwood with intense figuration. It glows with a silky sheen when properly sanded and finished. In the Philippine context, it is a prized hardwood and its use in domestic settings denotes wealth and influence. The crest of this rare aparador is composed of three horizontal kamagong wood panels, with small urns also in kamagong accentuating the two corners in front. The kamagong panels are decorated with large stylized stars with alternating spokes of lanite and kamagong (three whole ones and two halves in front, one whole and two halves on the sides). The panels are also discreetly adorned at the top and bottom by line inlay, all in lanite wood. From the crest, on both sides of the cabinet, descend a pair of engaged, finely articulated columns with lancet capitals set on clusters of small acanthus leaves, a reeded middle section, all of which terminate with similarly engaged round bases. The top of the main section of the aparador is a concave molding of dark kamagong wood with its plain upper section decorated by a succession of lozenges enclosed at the top and bottom by line inlay, all of lanite wood. Below the concave molding are the two exquisite doors of fully–figured dark kamagong wood composed of two framed panels each. The kamagong panels are enhanced with raised vertical panels with chamfered corners embellished on the sides with line inlay of lanite. One can observe that substantial effort was expended on matching the burls of the four panels to establish a visual rhythm (During the rare instances when recycled kamagong panels are actually available at upmarket wood dealers, the lengths do not exceed 6.0’ feet/1.83 meters, the widths do not exceed 9.0” inches/22.86 cm, and the thicknesses do not exceed .50” inches/1.27 cm. The dimensions of kamagong wood are generally small.) Inside the cabinet, there are four levels of shelving rendered in narra wood --- three plain shelves with a shelf with two drawers at the bottom --- an unusual but viable arrangement still characteristic of most neoclassical Filipino cabinets produced from 1825–1850. Both sides of the cabinet casing also have exquisite panels of fully–figured dark kamagong wood with raised vertical panels embellished with line inlay. Four square panels of darkened and patinated narra wood form the back of the cabinet. Below the highly–figured doors is an inverted triangular apron in kamagong wood framed by line inlay of lanite wood decorated in the center with a large, stylized star with alternating lanite and kamagong spokes. The entire cabinet is supported by four graceful cabriole legs with ogee feet of kamagong. The overall austere style of the kamagong aparador harks back to the 1820s. The cabinet manifests the characteristics of restraint, balance, and order faithful to the late neoclassical style. This singular Manila kamagong aparador in the late neoclassical style with spectacular, fully–figured burl doors and casing is very difficult to find and genuine specimens enter the auction market rarely. The previous kamagong aparador offered by the Leon Gallery was the Fabella aparador from the Backie Fabella Pamintuan–Celdran collection. It was sold at a Leon Gallery auction several years ago. This rare kamagong aparador comes from an interesting, old family from Apalit, Pampanga.