{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":61710,"auction_id":209,"set_id":242,"lot_number":"134","artist":"Carlos \"Botong\" V. Francisco (1912 - 1969)","title":"Blood Compact","starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"signed (lower right) <br/>\ndated 1968","medium":"watercolor on paper","size":"11 1/4\" x 27 3/4\" (29 cm x 70 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Private collection, Manila","exhibited":"Bulwagang Juan Luna and the Third Floor Museum Hallway of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Botong: Alay at Alaala, Manila, 17 November 1989 - 25 January 1990 <br/>\nAyala Museum, Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined, Makati City, 4 December 2012 - 31 March 2013","literature":"Manalo, Ino M. and Paul Zafaralla. Botong: Alay at Alaala. Published to accompany the exhibition of the same title at the Cultural Center of the Philippines from Noveber 1989 to January 1990. Artwork reproduced on page 25. <br/><br/>\nGuillermo, Alice G., Ino M. Manalo, Roberto G. Paulino, and D.M. Reyes. The Life and Art of Botong Francisco. Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, 2010. Full-color spread on pages 2 to 3 and artwork description on page 5. <br/><br/>\nSamson, Ditas R. Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined. Published to accompany the exhibition of the same title at the Ayala Museum from December 2012 to March 2013. Artwork reproduced on page 101.","write_up":"Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s Blood Compact was among the many pieces in Botong’s oeuvre where he exalted Filipino history. With his 1964 Filipino Struggles Through History mural at the Manila City Hall detailing the most important periods of Philippine history from the precolonial era to its conception, winding up as his arguably most influential work, Botong argued for his own historiography and pictorial arguments on his readings of Philippine history. His proclivity for the folk shines through, in accordance with the country’s centuries-long foreign oppression. It goes hand-in-hand, an inextricable fact that couldn’t be divorced from our understanding of our history, not without massive disservice to our analysis. <br/><br/> This 1968 Blood Compact finds itself amongst the many of Botong’s historical pieces. A watercolor study, Blood Compact is probably a preparatory piece for a mural or a bigger piece. With these pieces requiring countless hours of planning and prep work even before a brushstroke was created, Botong would often produce small-scale studies and test pieces that are, in and of themselves, objects of beauty. <br/><br/> Blood Compact portrays the titular sandugo in Botong’s iconic art style. An ancient precolonial Visayan tradition, a blood compact is designed to seal a treaty or a friendship. Here, the participants first slash open their hands, letting the blood flow into a cup filled with liquid like wine before they drink the mixture. With sandugo literally translating to “one blood,” the blood compact is a physical and symbolic bonding of multiple parties, a tradition that is far more binding and less likely to be misconstrued than a piece of parchment. <br/> <br/>Notably, a blood compact is a tradition that is far more egalitarian than the subsequent colonial interactions. Here, the conquistador and the datu are of equal footing, both leaders in their own right. Botong portrays this standing with his framing of the datu and the conquistador; though the conquistador sat straighter and at a slightly higher eye level than the datu, a reference to the Philippines’ subjugation under the Spanish empire for the next three centuries. <br/><br/> Botong’s watercolor studies feature small but subtle changes from its massive mural counterparts. Though Blood Compact has yet to show its partner, Botong is known to often repeat himself over the years, creating and recreating certain pieces and elements. Parts of Blood Compact can be seen as early as 1964, with the artist’s Sandugo echoing the general framing of the scene and especially the stance of the conquistador, possibly Miguel López de Legazpi, albeit with significant changes in other aspects. (Hannah Andrea Valiente)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":2200000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":2200000,"userBid":34,"isPaid":0,"userId":34,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":25492,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":2643520,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":68606,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/209/242/lot/134.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":68765,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/209/242/lot/134a.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":68764,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/209/242/lot/134b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":68763,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/209/242/lot/134c.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[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":133,"next":135,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}