{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":80,"auction_id":1,"set_id":1,"lot_number":"42","artist":"Antonio Malantic (School of) (1820 - 1885)","title":"Portrait of a Lady In a Traje De Mestiza From Santa Cruz, Manila","starting_price":500000,"signed_dated":"ca. 1870","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"36” x 28” (91 cm x 71 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM A VERY DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR","coa":null,"provenance":"Private collection, Makati","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Portrait of a Lady in a Traje De Mestiza from Santa Cruz, Manila\nby AUGUSTO MARCELINO REYES GONZALEZ III <br /><br />\n\nThe magisterial Chinese mestiza lady in her forties from Santa Cruz, Manila has a straight gaze, away from the artist; from her dignified, almost steely expression, she\nis determined to express her high economic and social status and privileges. While the portrait is not painted by any of the major artists of the era, it is still meant to impress and takes on the formulaic “Miniaturismo” depictions of the master portraitists like Antonio Malantic y Arzeo, Justiniano Asuncion y Molo, and Simon Flores de la Rosa: the lady sitter dressed in her finest embroidered pina “nipis” and silk “traje de mestiza”; hair pulled up, the better to show her gold and silver “peineta” and gold “fantoche” en tremblant; wearing the requisite diamond–studded gold jewelry of upper class women --- “peineta” comb, “fantoche” hairpin, “aretes” earrings, “rosario” (“tamborin” necklace), an odd single “anillo” ring on her left hand, as it was the custom during important gatherings to don rings on all fingers except the thumbs; clutching an expensive Spanish prayer book, denoting education and literacy; holding a fancy French, Spanish, or Chinese ivory “abanico” fan as an expression of her feminine wiles and high status in society; right hand resting on a multigrooved marbletop table with a squash tripod base, the requisite center table of all rich Filipino families from the 1850s–90s; seated on an ornate “Luis Quince” (Louis XV Revival/Rococo Revival) single chair, probably by the master cabinetmaker Ah Tay of Calle Misericordia, Binondo; a rich background of silk damask curtains, passementerie, and lavishly papered walls. The fact that she is wearing a “saya de suelta” without the requisite “tapis” overskirt --- a style traditionally worn by unmarried young women and girls --- could mean that she is a spinster; that, or the silk fabric used for her skirt is terribly expensive and must show its worth. <br /><br />\nThis seated portrait by an unknown Manila artist is similar to “Inocencia Francia” by Antonio Malantic y Arzeo, 1875, Pagsanjan, Laguna; “Miguela Yamson” (Sra de Paterno Molo de San Agustin) attributed to Severino Flavier Pablo, circa 1830, Santa Cruz, Manila; “Severina Ocampo de Arroyo” by Simon Flores de la Rosa, 1870, Candaba, Pampanga; “Quintina Castor de Sadie” by Simon Flores de la Rosa, 1870, Candaba, Pampanga; “Cornelia Sison de Hizon” by Simon Flores de la Rosa, 1870, Mexico/Masicu, Pampanga; “Sra de Castor” by Simon Flores de la Rosa, 1880, Candaba, Pampanga; “Ramona Linares y Reyes de Berenguer” by Simon Flores de la Rosa, 1880, Arayat, Pampanga; “Raymunda Soriano de Reyes” by Simon Flores de la Rosa, 1880, Arayat, Pampanga; “Soterrana Puzon y Quintos de Ventanilla” by Dionisio de Castro, 1890, Lingayen, Pangasinan. Overall, the composition of the subject is no different from those of the masters. The only differences are in the superior techniques and precise execution. <br /><br />\nAccording to Mr Gino Gonzales (top production designer, CCP educator, foremost scholar and researcher on Filipiniana dress, Fulbright scholar at the Tisch School–NYU, protégé of National Artist for Theater and Design Salvador Bernal), the style of the lady’s “traje de mestiza” is from the 1870s at the earliest and the 1880s at the latest. The two end points of the “panuelo” don’t meet in the 1860s, but they do by the 1870s. Also, by the 1890s, the shoulder line has dropped, but not yet here. She wears a “saya de suelta,” a skirt without the “tapis” overskirt, which is usually worn by younger unmarried women. The fabric for the “saya de suelta” was probably very expensive and that’s why she did away with the traditional “tapis” to show it off more effectively. Also, the embroidery of the “panuelo” and the “camisa” is already coordinated/ matching as “ternos bordados,” a new development by the 1870s. Furthermore, the European–style backdrop of drapery and tassels in this portrait is very similar to those in the 1870s photographs of ladies in “trajes de mestiza” at the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana. So one can say that that ensemble is from the 1870s, not earlier, not later. <br /><br />\nTo get an idea of the life of an affluent lady from Santa Cruz, Manila in the late 1800s, we have to look for a woman who actually existed and lived that kind of life. One of the most interesting ladies to emerge from the arrabal of Santa Cruz, Manila in the late 1800s was Doña Rosenda Mendoza (ancestress of the society modernist architect Juan Antonio Gonzalez Mendoza and his sister the former fashion model Tessa Gonzalez Mendoza). She was a heiress and descended from a line of gobernadorcillos in Mariquina. She married Capitan Tomas Tanchangco of barrio Parian, Malolos, Bulacan and became the leading lady of the Malolos “principalia” and “ilustrados” in the 1890s. Her large “bahay na bato” by the waterway in Malolos was the grandest in town, entirely furnished in the European “Belle Epoque” style with chandeliers, upholstered furniture, rugs, paintings, and large vases. She had a special salon swathed in red silk velvet solely reserved for the Spanish Gobernador–General and the Arzobispo de Manila. She entertained the Manila and Central Luzon “principalia” and “ilustrados” frequently in “de numero” style --- formal multicourse sitdown dinners with multiple china, crystal, silver, and linen settings followed by “bailes” dancing to live orchestras. European wines flowed like water during her social gatherings. She had carriages with solid silver fittings. Doña Rosenda lived like a Queen, with an entourage to accompany her everywhere. One of the largest and most elegant pineapple silver “paliteras”/“palilleras” in existence, monogrammed “R M,” now in the nonpareil Paulino and Hetty Que Collection, once belonged to the legendary Doña Rosenda Mendoza de Tanchangco.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":1000000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1000000,"userBid":7890,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1201600,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":43,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/1/1/lot/42.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":41,"next":43,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}