235. Holy Finds! RELIGIOUS PRINTS

As a collector of sacred art, I got excited when i saw these very old black and white prints showing religious figures, Biblical scenes and character at an art shop in Devonport, New Zealand. They are rather large prints and seemed to have come from the same book. There were classic representations of the Immaculate Conception, The Scourging of Christ, the Holy Family, The Way of the Cross--and so much more, probably printed in Italy. Some of the scenes are captioned in Spanish, French and English. The curator/shop owner told me they date back to the late 1890s-1900, making them authetic 100 year old antique. She was kind enough too, to give me a special package price for 3 lovely prints. In Manila, these would probably be worth Php 5,000 apiece, as European-made religious prints are hard to come by--last time I saw a black and white Currier & Ives print of Sacred Heart for sale locally was over a decade ago--and that was American-made!

234. WE THREE KINGS: Nativity Figures

Christmas is still a long way off, but I just have to show this trio of plastic royalties that dates back to the psychedelic 60s. I found these in the weekend Avondale Market in Auckland, NZ--which is basically a farmer's market with a sprinkling of open stalls selling vintage stuff. Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar may have been part of a Nativity set, typical of examples cheaply sold in the 50s and 60s. I couldn't find a manufacturer's mark, maybe these were made in Hong Kong. Holiday collectibles such as these have their own crazy collectors--and I guess I am one of them. Right now, this  merry plastic trio are gathered 'round my little plastic Christmas tree that is displayed year-round in my little house, ready to welcome visitors with their plastic gifts of myrrh, gold and frankincense.

233. CHASING MARIA CLARA

This picture showing a beautiful pair of Filipiniana busts was sent by phone to me for my consideration by my antique dealer from Bulacan. One look and I knew these were very rare pieces--and very old. The almost identical busts show two Filipinas in a typical Maria Clara outfit, characterized by a stiff panuelo, covering their camisa. One of the ladies has her head in a more tilted position and is about half an inch shorter, but both are carved similarly, right down to the hair caught in a bun at the back. There are polychrome traces on these fine softwood carvings.

I agreed with my dealer to see the busts up close on a Friday, as I really don't buy items without first seeing them--especially at the price he wanted. But towards the week, he phoned again to tell me that the middleman peddling the busts was pulling them out from his shop (he was taking them to Manila)--and asked f I could see them before Friday. That proved impossible for me, as I was still at work in Makati, so sadly, I passed them up. But the images of these rare Filipiniana pieces kept haunting me.

Next thing I knew, the pair appeared in an online shop in just a matter of days--sulit.com.ph--advertised by a Manila dealer. I quickly got in contact with the dealer and confirmed that the pair was still up for grabs. There was only one catch though--the original price had doubled! But at that point, i didn't care--the rarity of these pieces told me they were still worth much, much more.

I surmised that these were not commercially sold pieces but commissioned works from some sculptor meant to grace a grand old bahay na bato. Their faces might have even been modelled from real Filipina ladies, sisters perhaps. Another possibility was that these were works of an advanced art student, projects of his sculpting class. The details are impeccable, right down to the turned pedestals and the lacey like edgings of the ladies' panuelo.

 But there was one more catch before I could even go check them out at the dealer's place: one bust had been sold. I would have wanted to get the pair, but I was still in luck: since I got to the dealer's place first, I had the first option to choose the bust of my preference. Of course, I picked the taller one, all 23 inches tall, showing a more mature lady of refinement and wealth. So ends my successful chase for this bust that had been the object of my fascination for a week--Maria Clara was mine to keep!

232. LETTER ART: Victoriano Caballero

While scrounging around for some worthy finds at the antique row of NLEX's Sta. Rita Exit, I came upon an old religious print of the "Virgen de la Paloma"--tattered beyond repair--framed in a crumbling gesso'd picture frame. It was a pity that the print could no longer be salvaged, it had large missing parts--but the dealer pointed out to some possible paper treasures found at the back of the picture. Indeed, 3 pieces of paper were found sandwiched between the frame and the print, acting as backboards.

I was immediately drawn to a 22 x18 sheet of browning paper--a watercolor letter art bearing the name "Victorino Caballero". Letter art was a popular Filipino past-time, and the best examples were the water color 'letras y figuras' creations in the 19th century. "Letras y Figuras" refer to an art form involving the painting of the letters of the alphabet by ingeniously forming their contour out of the shape of human figures, animals, plants, and other objects. The foremost proponent of these charming folk art pieces was Jose Honorato Lozano. 

Simpler letter art involved embellishing individual letters with design elements like floral motifs, just like this example, thus creating a new font style that is at once pleasing and beautiful. This, actually, is a memorial piece--bearing the name of the dear departed. Underneath Victorino's name are pencilled inscriptions--indicating that this was unfinished: "Namatay ng icadalauampo ng Octubre ng taong isang libo ualong daan at ualong po at lima" (Died on the 20th of October in the year 1885). This work certainly was done after 1885, maybe a few months or so after the departure of Victorino from this mortal world.

231. God Wave The Queen: SOLAR QUEEN LIZ

2012 marked Queen Elizabeth of England’s Diamond Jubilee Year and as a tribute, this limited edition ‘Solar Queen’was created by Kikkerland Design of USA and Canada—made in good ol’China, of course.

My sis, who vaguely appreciates my bizarre hobby, sent this animated doll to me from her New Zealand home base. How does it work?

Well, just place the Solar Queen in the sunlight and watch Her Majesty wave with a subtle twist of the wrist. This gesture, cultivated over the centuries, is the true mark of royalty. The solar panel on her handbag is her power supply, so she never needs batteries—which means she may just wave forever!

230. AMORSOLO ART IN A SCHOOLBOOK

I was scavenging for old reading materials at a thrift shop at the famous Cubao Expo when this book with a familiar green cover caught my eye. Yes! It’s the same textbook we used in Grade 4, if I remember right—entitled “Your Country and Mine”.

 It was authored by Catalina Velasquez-Ty, Tomas Garcia and Antonio A. Maceda, published in 1954 by Ginn and Company, a well-known American publishing firm that had offices in Boston, new York and—Manila!

Once I leafed through the pages, I was transported back to my grade school days, when I used to admire the beautiful full color artworks that appeared in the book.

Little did I know that the illustrations were done by Cesar C. Amorsolo (b.1903/d. 1998) – Fernando Amorsolo’s nephew. His father, Atty. Alejandro Amorsolo also painted. Orphaned at the age of 6, Cesar went on to live with his uncle Fernando, whom he would serve as his assistant for 30 years.

Coming into his own, he painted in Manila, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, where he stayed for 7 years. Gifted with a fine hand, his paintings of rural scenes carry the same unmistakable Amorsolo lighting. Ginn and Co. often commissioned him to do artworks for their books printed in Manila, doing illustrations in oil, pastel and occasionally, watercolor. Cesar Amorsolo belongs to the so-called Mabini artist group who painted in the folk genre for the tourist trade.

229. Good Cluck Find: MECHANICAL EGG-LAYING TIN CHICKEN

Now this battery-powered tin chicken toy caught my fancy in a roadside shop--only because of its  unsually funny complex features--it pushes a pram containing her bobbling-head chicks, walks with a loud squalk while moving its wings and then stops to lay 2 plastic eggs! Now that's a weird playtime pleaser! I've seen a couple of YouTube videos of similar egg-laying chicken toys--but not like this pram-pushing variety. The condition of this toy is perfect--maybe it's missing 1 egg, but other than that, I see no major mechanical defects. Which leads me to believe that this is a newer toy model, possibly from the 70s? Or even later. I originally thought this was made in Japan, but a reader corrected me--it's made in China (thanks RodC). What a fine feathered find!