Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

          This elegant dropfront desk of "narra" wood with elegant line inlays of "lanite" wood and "kamagong" wood is from the middle  of the 1800s.  The top drawer can be pulled down to reveal a  generous writing surface and several compartments for storing  and organizing all kinds of personal matters.  Found by 2  assiduous antique dealers in Old Manila a few months ago,  it is in a remarkable state of preservation, with no wooden parts  attacked by termites or wood borers ("bukbok"), with all of its  original brass hardware conserved, and all its locks and keys  functioning.  And yet, everything about it is original and from  the 1850s.  It is a piece much sought after by serious collectors  and hard – driving executives alike.  Two decades ago, Osmundo  Esguerra and Ramon Villegas sold a similar "escritorio" to top  Chinese – Filipino art and antique collector Paulino Que.   
-Augusto Marcelino Reyes Gonzalez III