{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":56508,"auction_id":110,"set_id":144,"lot_number":"83","artist":"Baliuag Comoda Altar","title":null,"starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"1890s","medium":"Narra wood (Pterocarpus indicus), Kamagong wood (Diospyros discolor/Diospyros blancoi), Lanite wood (Kibatalia gitingensis), Carabao bone","size":"H: 48\" (122 cm) L: 23 3/4\" (60 cm) W: 60\" (152 cm)","property":"PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED LADY","coa":null,"provenance":"Baliuag, Bulacan Private Collection","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"This handsome comoda has a solid 1.0” inch–thick molded top of “golden narra” wood. The central portion has two smaller drawers over four big drawers. The two smaller drawers are embellished with neoclassical panels with convex edges of lanite line inlay punctuated at the corners with stylized stars of triangle– and circle–shaped carabao bone inlay; under the keyholes are concave sections accented with triangle–shaped inlay. The two drawers are separated by a plaque --- a panel with convex edges of lanite line inlay with a stylized flower of six inwardly turned triangle–shaped bone inlay surrounding a circle–shaped inlay at the center. The four big drawers are similarly adorned with panels with convex edges and stylized stars at the corners; also under the keyholes are concave sections accented with bone inlay. The drawer surrounds under the smaller drawers are decorated with a series of diamond–shaped bone inlay while those between the big drawers are adorned with a double series of rectangular bar–shaped bone inlay. <br /><br /> The drawers are flanked by reeded pilasters (engaged columns) of kamagong wood. Flanking the drawers are panels embellished with four sets of circular line inlay containing stylized flowers composed of cartwheel incised circles surrounded by oval–shaped bone inlay edged by triangle–shaped inlay. Flanking the panels are similar reeded pilasters of kamagong wood. The sides of the cabinet have doors that enclose additional storage of three shelves each; the doors are decorated with neoclassical panels with convex edges punctuated with double lanite line inlay with a series of diamond–shaped carabao bone inlay, a circle is in the center containing alternating upright and upturned triangle–shaped bone inlay in turn enclosing concave line inlay simulating petals, with a stylized flower of circle–shaped bone inlay centered by diamond–shaped inlay inside; the four corners of the panel are accented with stylized stars of triangle– and circle–shaped bone inlay. <br /><br /> The whole cabinet is supported by a thick molding over a “cenefa” apron; the thick molding is embellished with a running pattern of large diamond–shaped bone inlay while the cenefa is adorned with lanite line inlay enclosing a series of stylized stars composed of triangle– and diamond–shaped bone inlay. Under the four pilasters in front are four unusual reeded urn feet and there are two feet at the rear. <br /><br /> Basically, what the innovative Bulaqueno cabinetmaker did was to add to the storage capacity of a standard four– drawer Baliuag comoda by adding half of a two–door comoda to its sides, increasing access to three sides of the cabinet and almost doubling its capacity. Interesting work. <br /><br /> This elegant comoda altar represents the last beautiful phase in the evolution of the Baliuag “comoda” or chest of drawers (or two–door cabinet) which began in the early 1800s with a simple chest of four drawers of golden narra wood that was gradually ornamented with kamagong line inlay. As the decades passed during the 1800s, the inlay became more elaborate with equally fine craftsmanship, but it then came to the point of decadence in the 1900s wherein the workmanship became bastardized and deteriorated. When resin components were introduced to supplant wooden parts, and when synthetic plastics/ acrylics were substituted for organic carabao bone and kamagong and lanite wood inlay, the end had finally come for the Baliuag furniture tradition. <br /><br /> There are only a few examples of those outlier, bespoke Baliuag comodas which were produced from 1850–1875, and all of them are beautiful. There is a stellar, prizewinning example with splendid bone and kamagong inlay from the Don Dr Maximo Viola y Sison–Dona Maria Juana Roura y Santa Maria estate in San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan and barangay Lourdes, Quezon city; it is now in the Paulino Que and Hetty Kho collection. There is another stellar example with beautiful bone and kamagong floral inlay from the Don Francisco de Yriarte y Menendez–Dona Baldomera Alveyra-Espiritu (y) de la Chica estate in Santa Cruz, Laguna and Manila; it is now in a private collection in Urdaneta village. There is one example with discreet bone and kamagong inlay originally from the Bello–Gonzales– Cruz estate in Baliuag, Bulacan which devolved to the Dr Luis Uytancoy Santos–Fermina Bello–Pilar Santos estate in barangay Santo Nino (originally barrio Pariancillo), Malolos, Bulacan; it is now in the the Xavier Pardo de Tavera Loinaz and Mercedes Pestano Jacinto collection. There is still one beautiful example in situ with beautiful bone and kamagong floral inlay, still with the original family in its original 1840s ancestral house in Baliuag, Bulacan. <br /><br /> A variant of the Baliuag comoda was a long Victorian– style sideboard with three drawers on top and a central shelf at the bottom flanked by two cabinet doors, which were produced from 1875–1900. It was similar to the Baliuag Sheraton mesa altar except that instead of six to eight tapering Hepplewhite legs, it had a central shelf at the bottom flanked by two cabinet doors. It usually came with a matching back panel centered by a mirror flanked by shelves. Two examples are known: a stellar example full of intricate bone and kamagong inlay originally from the Don Felipe Buencamino y Siojo I–Dona Juana Arnedo estate in barrio Capalangan, Apalit, Pampanga which devolved to the (first elected Governor of Pampanga during the American period) Don Macario Arnedo y Sioco– Dona Maria Espiritu y Dungo estate in the same place, which in turn devolved to the Atty Augusto Diosdado Sioco Gonzalez–Rosario Lucia Espiritu Arnedo estate in barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga and Quezon city. Another example entirely in kamagong wood with discreet bone and kamagong inlay was sold off by Osmundo Esguerra (“Omeng”) in the early 2000s. Current whereabouts unknown. Both the Buencamino–Arnedo and the Esguerra sideboards had already lost their original, mirrored back panels. <br /><br /> There was a very similar “comoda altar” from 1890–1910 to this cabinet which was auctioned at the Leon Gallery in 2017. Eight years later in 2025, this beautiful example from the same period has come up for auction. <br /><br /> The furniture tradition of Baliuag, Bulacan goes back to the early nineteenth century, to the talented Bulaqueno cabinetmakers, the Hispano–Moresque artistic traditions (which included the exquisite art of inlay), the peripatetic American traders, the American desire for souvenirs of exotic Las Islas Filipinas, the American Federal style of furniture (1780–1830), and venturesome American capital… all those factors coalesced to produce neoclassical, elegant, light Baliuag furniture of dark/mahogany–stained, golden, honey–colored narra wood (“Pterocarpus indicus”) with discreet carabao bone, kamagong, and lanite inlay. The furniture produced included single chairs, armchairs, lounging chairs (“sillas perezosas”), dining chairs, hall tables, Sheraton altar tables (“mesas altares”), center tables, side tables, service tables, segmented dining tables (“cabeceras”), “sola pieza” dining tables (“cabeceras”), sideboards (“los aparadores”), chests (“baules”), commodes (“comodas”), chests of drawers (“comodas”), cabinets, wardrobes (“armarios”), tester beds, night tables (“mesitas de noche”), etc. Many Baliuag furniture pieces were directly or indirectly exported to the United States, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, Latin America. Today, there is a renewed appreciation for antique Baliuag furniture among interior designers, decorators, and homeowners in the United States and Europe, as their light, easily movable neoclassical forms “simply jive with the current global, casual, easygoing vibe.”","lot_group":"FURNITURE","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":1300000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":1300000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":1562080,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":60293,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/110/144/lot/83.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":82,"next":84,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}