{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":22051,"auction_id":23,"set_id":42,"lot_number":"145","artist":"Manila Aparador","title":null,"starting_price":1800000,"signed_dated":"1800 – 1850","medium":"narra, kamagong, and lanite wood","size":"80 1/2\" x 51\" x 20 1/4\" (204 cm x 130 cm x 51 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Martinez family, Balayan, Batangas; Juan Martinez (born 24 November 1859 in Balayan, Batangas), successful publisher, Manila resident; Private Collection","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"The entablature or crest of this elegant Manila aparador in the late neoclassical style with its split-timber (bookmatched), exceptionally burled narra wood panels is the correct, traditional frieze of flowing marquetry of garlands with interspersed flowers and leaves interpreted in lanite wood set\non kamagong wood panels topped with moldings on their cornices, with small urns also in kamagong accentuating the two rounded corners in front. The architrave or the bottom sections of the kamagong panels which comprise the entablature/crest are decorated with thick line inlay of lanite.
\n\nThe top of the main section of the cabinet is a concave molding of 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. From the top of the main section of the cabinet, on both sides, descend a pair of finely articulated columns in dark kamagong wood with stylized acanthus leaf capitals on truncated balusters, a reeded middle section, all of which terminate with similar shortened balusters on top of the lotiform feet.
\n\nBelow the moldings of the top of the main section of the cabinet and aligned heightwise with the posts are the doors --- a pair of split-timber, exceptionally burled narra panels all framed by molded kamagong. What is unusual is that while the beautiful narra panels are perfectly matched, they are installed in an interesting, innovative fashion: the burl of the left panel goes downwards while the burl of the right panel goes upwards. The eccentric, amusing style presages the modernity of the 1960s by one hundred forty years.
\n\nThe kamagong–framed, split-timber, exceptionally burled narra panels are further enhanced with raised vertical neoclassical panels with inverse C–scroll corners accentuated by precise line inlay of kamagong. There is a cartouche of old brass for the keyhole on the right door. Inside, there are four alternating levels of shelves and two drawers all in narra, with kamagong line inlay and turned kamagong pulls, atypical from the usual arrangement of two shelves with a center level of two drawers in the interior common to most Filipino cabinets produced from 1825–1850.\nBoth sides of the cabinet casing also have beautiful burled wood panels with kamagong line inlay simulating vertical neoclassical panels with inverse C– scroll corners. Four short vertical panels of narra comprise the back of the cabinet.
\n\nBelow the doors is an inverted triangular apron in kamagong wood framed by line inlay of lanite wood decorated in the center with an appliqueed carving of foliar scrolls in lanite. The cabinet is supported by four lotiform feet of kamagong with marquetry leaves of lanite.
\n\nTrue to the late neoclassical style, the cabinet possesses the attributes of balance, order, and restraint.
\n\nProvenance: The Juan Martinez estate, Manila. Juan Martinez was a successful publisher and printer of Tagalog, Ilocano, and Pampango literature.He established his first publishing office and printing press in 1902 in a house on Plaza Calderon de la Barca. He transferred to Calle Jolo/Calle Anloague (currently Juan Luna street) where he remained\nuntil 1909; to Calle Estraude, until 1917. Finally, to Calle Cabildo in Intramuros up to World War II. Simultaneously at that time, he also had stores at Plaza Moraga along the Escolta and at Calle Real. The Martinez publishing office and printing press were destroyed during the Liberation in February 1945. The company was revived as R Martinez & Sons in 1958. The company commemorated the 100th birth anniversary of its founder Juan Martinez on 24 November 1959. Among the many heirloom furnishings of Martinez, the Manila aparador was probably inherited from his parents and grandparents who lived in Balayan, Batangas. (based on an extant marker by the NHI National Historical Institute)
\n\n\"This type of late neoclassical cabinet was termed “Manila” in origin by Filipiniana authority Ramon N Villegas and by leading antique dealer and Manila’s “romancer of wood” Osmundo Esguerra because it was usually found within the confines of the metropolis, although interestingly, many examples were also found in the Ilocos region (perhaps they were widely sold there through the river trade or there were Manila–trained\ncraftsmen in Ilocos workshops). The style was derived mainly from American Federal furniture with elements from English Regency and German Biedermeier. From the mid–1800s to the prewar, this type of cabinet was usually found in the holdings of early prominent families like the Tuason–Legarda–Prieto–Valdes, the Roxas–de Ayala–Zobel–Soriano, and the Roxas–Zaragoza–Araneta–Infante–Preysler clans.\"","lot_group":"FURNITURE","lot_details_html":"
Manila Aparador 1800 – 1850 narra, kamagong, and lanite wood 80 1/2\" x 51\" x 20 1/4\" (204 cm x 130 cm x 51 cm)