{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":22322,"auction_id":25,"set_id":44,"lot_number":"62","artist":"Papag (Day Bed)","title":null,"starting_price":500000,"signed_dated":"Late 18th - early 19th century \nBatangas province ","medium":"balayong wood","size":"37” x 52” x 82” (94 cm x 132 cm x 208 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"This papag (day bed) in lustrous balayong wood from Batangas province has an extremely durable bed surface composed of five planks framed by thick panels with receding moldings. In a nod to Hangzhou–style furniture construction, the square posts of the headboard emerge through the wooden bed surface for permanent stability. A slightly arched bar with linear indentations is fastened to the two posts just under the squarish, molded finials and it anchors the thirteen baluster–shaped cutwork slats that complete the headboard (six on each side flanking a wider central slat). Directly underneath the thick panels with receding moldings, a cenefa (or apron) of stylized pennants embellishes all four sides of the day bed. Behind them are the four square legs which support the piece. The shafts are attenuated towards the molded bases which are on top of plain rectangular plinths. The four stretchers, detailed with linear indentations on their horizontal sides, are connected to the legs just below the bases. Practically indestructible, this papag is constructed in exactly the same way as a classical Batangas mesa altar or altar table. It is made to last for a very long time. The Batangas papag day bed is a worthy direct descendant of the Scholar’s Platform from the Sung dynasty.
\nThe deceptive simplicity of this Batangas papag belies the centuries–old Sinitic woodworking techniques that hold it together. Various versions of mortise–and–tenon joinery, including the more complex xinmianping, are applied to different areas of the papag. One can plainly see that much thought and effort were expended in the creation of this seemingly modest but exquisite daybed. There is no doubt about these Sinitic woodworking techniques as the daybed is still sturdy and sound after a little more than two hundred years of existence and the unimaginable number of people who used and abused it.
\nA Harvard University–educated art and antique collector observes: “Papags are often quite small, around 5 x 4 feet. In their original domestic interiors, they might be found as much in living rooms, verandas, or foyers, for napping or conversation, as much as they may have been in bedrooms. However, this one, from the personal collection of the writer, art historian, and connoisseur Ramon Villegas (who owned it since the 1990s) is the largest — and earliest — papag known to come to the market, making this piece exceedingly rare.”
\nThe distinguished collector continues: “One of the most beautiful and characteristic decorative elements, perhaps unique to Batangas province, is the gracious undulating horizontal “wave” that acts as a senepa or apron skirting all four sides of the papag. Constructed as a horizontal composition of straight lines and curves, a half-round dome pushes downward through right angles, bringing small scale to the solidity of the four supporting posts, and to the mass of the solid bed frame. This lovely carved balayong “wave” is also found on a number of Batangas furniture types: most distinctly on the elongated (12 - 14 foot) kapiyas, on early Batangas dulangs, sometimes on Batangas aparadors and comodas. It also appears in Batangas architecture, adding a delicate underscore to the eves of 18th and 19th century houses, particularly around Taal and Lemery.” \nDistinguished collector: “The Batangas papag is in a collecting category onto itself, rivaling the Ah Tay Bed not only for quality of construction, but also for strength of presence. Whereas the Ah Tay Bed, always in narra, takes its iconographic cues from the Ilocos region (such as the leaves and fruits of the grape vine), the Batangas papag’s strength of presence comes from carved motifs unique to the Batangas region, and the distinctive use of the dark, elegant hardwood, balayong. Perhaps the only other province known for its distinctive papag is Bohol, but the ones from Batangas are regarded more highly for the quality of their carving and their exclusive use mof balayong. Whereas the 19th century Ah Tay bed has Victorian stylistic elements that tie it as fusion-type construct to the West, the earlier papags of Batangas and Bohol are tied by construction to the only uniquely pre- Hispanic piece of furniture found in these islands by the conquistadores: the dulang.”
\nDistinguished collector: “The dulang (a rectangular low table around which people sit on the floor) is constructed of a one-piece hardwood top supported by four square posts. On the the long side of the rectangular tabletop, the two posts terminate into a sled-base on the floor, and mid-air between these two legs are stretchers which are added for extra stability. Like the dulang, the papag also has four solid posts supporting its top. In case of this fine example, two of the posts pierce through the top, becoming supporting elements for a headboard. The sled-base is dispensed with, in favor of stabilization from additional stretchers.” \nDistinguished collector: “Batangas province has produced perhaps the most beautiful and collectible furniture types in the country, including the extraordinary balayong altar tables originating in the Taal area. Indeed, the seeds for masterful woodworking in Batangas were planted in the late 1600s with the construction of Taal cathedral. Eventually, the rise in the 1800s of the hacienda class, and the professional classes also, further increased demand for domestic furniture. For these people, rising in wealth and stature, that the first non-church furniture — mesas altar, papags, aparadors, comodas — from local ateliers were produced. This demand created two centuries of excellence in woodworking craftsmanship in Batangas province.”
\nAuthor’s Note : Antique Batangas furniture are characterized by a deliberate Oriental geometry of scale and proportion, fine mature hardwoods, precise Chinese–style construction with classical mortise–and–dowel techniques, age–old durability and are sought after by serious collectors. In the early 1980s, it was the duo of Filipiniana scholar/jeweler/antique dealer Ramon Villegas and antique dealer/wood expert Osmundo Esguerra who exposed collectors and scholars to the timeless beauty and discreet refinement of antique Batangas furniture and thus created a justifiable demand that has lasted decades. The most extensive and impressive selection of antique Batangas furniture, classic and primitive, is in the Paulino and Hetty Que collection.","lot_group":"FURNITURE","lot_details_html":"
Papag (Day Bed) Late 18th - early 19th century Batangas province balayong wood 37” x 52” x 82” (94 cm x 132 cm x 208 cm)