A Silver Sanctuary Lamp
Binondo, Manilamid–eighteenth century (1725–75)
solid silver (Mexican silver, 80%), Approx. weight 6.5 kgs
H: 55" (140 cm) D: 20" (51 cm)

PROVENANCEPrivate Collection, Manila


This silver sanctuary lamp is very old --- from the mid–eighteenth century --- on account of its relative simplicity and archaic “ysot” decoration of bouquets and swags on the gracefully scalloped edges of the vessel, which terminates in an urn–shaped finial. “Ysot” decoration, although understated, is difficult because it requires precision, rhythm, and speed as the silversmith pokes the silver sheet with his “burin” pick and hammer quickly to execute the decorative patterns. Any hesitation or loss of rhythm will cause the process to fail. The “ysot” technique was the primary manner of silver decoration from the 1570s to the 1720s, when engraving (“gravado”), chasing, repousse, piercework, filigree, and other techniques were added to the silversmith’s repertoire. The vessel is suspended from the cover by four chains of piercework plaques and links. The cover itself is decorated with engraving, chasing, and repousse in the Filipino adaptation of the rococo style. The cover is surmounted by an urn, also in silver. In such hanging lamps, the actual illumination was provided by a metal or glass receptacle with oil and wick which hung midway between the cover and the vessel through the chains. The purpose of the vessel was to prevent spillage and prevent the entire church and convent from burning, specially during earthquakes. No, the Filipino silver sanctuary lamps did not burn furiously with wood and oil as depicted in the atheniennes in old Hollywood movies. Up until the reforms of Vatican II from 1962–65, a silver hanging lamp like this usually hung from a wrought iron corbel or a hardwood angel at the sanctuary or altar area of a Roman Catholic church. It was usually hung at the right side, sometimes on the left side, sometimes on both sides in rich churches. Sometimes, a large silver hanging lamp was suspended from the dome as a chandelier, as in the older Augustinian churches of Pampanga (Lubao, Mexico, Bacolor, Guagua), echoing the placement of the famous “botafumeiro” (giant censer) at the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. After 1965, many of these silver sanctuary lamps were unfortunately relegated to “bodegas”/storerooms in churches and convents where they were found by appreciative antique dealers and collectors who purchased them from the priests and happily brought them home. They were usually hung at the corners of fashionable living rooms and lanais; they were used as receptacles for hanging plants and giant ferns. Society antique dealer Maria Cristina Ongpin–Roxas had a silver hanging lamp in a corner of her living room which she used for ferns and vines. At the Villa Escudero, two exquisite rococo–style silver sanctuary lamps hung in the lanai of the modern home of collectors Arsenio and Rosario Escudero. A big silver lamp hung at a corner of the lanai of collectors Leandro and Cecilia Locsin in Forbes Park. Also in Forbes, at the home of top collector Luis Araneta, his large and magnificent rococo–style silver sanctuary lamp was hung in the lanai during parties and was used as the ultimate champagne cooler. The collections of antique Filipino silver in Manila are always splendid, specially since their proud collectors make it a point for their silver to always be clean and polished. There are trained household staff dedicated to maintaining the silver. Silver polishes are sourced abroad. Some have collections of Filipino church silver and some of Filipino household silver. Some have both. There are collectors’ rooms in Manila containing a range of Filipino church silver: altar frontals, sanctuary lamps, chalices, ciboriums, candleholders, “ramilletes” (silver bouquets), “sacras” prayer card frames, processional banners, “relicarios” reliquaries, oil and water vessels, silver appliquees for vestments, etc. The atmosphere is invariably hieratic (otherworldly) and it is easy to imagine the elaborate religious ceremonies in the Intramuros churches before the destruction of World War II. One of the things that figure prominently in such wunderkammers is a Filipino sanctuary lamp like this. It was crafted from Mexican silver coins (solid silver 80% ) sometime in the mid–1700s, probably in Binondo, where most of the expert Chinese and Filipino silversmiths worked. That was about 250 years ago. The fashionable style then was rococo, a French royal style based on shells, rocks, waves, swirls, and confusion in general. Those are the motifs albeit simplified in this silver hanging lamp. This is composed of several parts --- the vessel, the four chains, the cover, and the small metal or glass receptacle for the oil and wick. Three metalworking techniques that were used to decorate it are “ysot” (pinprick decoration), “gravado”/engraving (like writing deeply with a pick) and repousse (hammering to relief from the reverse side). The largest and most spectacular silver sanctuary lamp, nicknamed by Ramon N Villegas as “The Bathtub,” is now in the Paulino and Hetty Que collection. It is high rococo in style and was acquired by top collector Luis Araneta from a church in Ilocandia. It once hung in his Forbes Park lanai and during his many soignee parties functioned as a champagne cooler. That was the high style for which Luis Araneta was famous. A rich church like the seven churches of Intramuros --- San Agustin, Recoletos, San Francisco, Venerable Orden Tercera, Santo Domingo, San Ignacio, Lourdes --- and rich parishes like those of Binondo, Santa Cruz, Tondo, Quiapo, Antipolo, Binan (Laguna), Majayjay (Laguna), et al meant that all of the altar frontals, candleholders (small and large), “ramilletes” (silver bouquets), sanctuary lamps were all crafted out of exquisitely worked Mexican silver 80%, usually post–1764 (post–British Occupation 1762–64). Such was the staggering wealth of Spanish Catholic Filipinas. This very old sanctuary lamp of Mexican silver 80%, of Filipino workmanship, is a rare survivor of a confused culture that has allowed many of its greatest masterpieces in silver and other metals to be destroyed and melted down in the crucibles of Meycauayan, Bulacan. As mentioned beforehand, it once adorned a magnificent altar in a great church. --- Augusto Marcelino Reyes Gonzalez III