PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE ROMEO JORGE COLLECTION
A Mesa Altar (Sheraton)
2nd quarter of the 19th century (1825 – 1850)Baliuag, Bulacan
narra and tindalo wood (Pterocarpus indicus and Afzelia rhomboidea)kamagong and lanite inlay (Diospyros discolor/Diospyros blancoi andKibatalia gitingensis)
H: 35 1/2" (90 cm)L: 27" (69 cm)W: 52 1/2" (133 cm)


PROVENANCEPrivate collection, Manila.



WRITE UP:
This sterling example of an early, 1825–50 Baliuag mesa altar or Sheraton from the Romeo Jorge collection is a combination of golden narra and red narra wood (both golden narra, which resembles the exquisite Chinese “huang–huali,” and red narra come from different sections of one “Pterocarpus indicus” tree). The top is a single piece of golden narra; there is a narra patch on the lower right side, a repair to World War II damage. The three drawers are of golden narra; the bigger central drawer is bow– fronted or convex and the flanking drawers are concave. The drawers are decorated with bone and kamagong line inlays simulating panels with concave corners. There are no handles on the drawers, only the keyholes, as this particular piece was intended for the storage of valuables like jewelry and gold and silver coins, aside from its principal purpose, the display of the sacred images of the household. There is a “cenefa”/molding under the drawers decorated with diamond– and lozenge–shaped carabao bone inlays in a repetitive geometric pattern. The three aprons are of golden narra. The four legs as well as divisions of the drawers terminating in inverted round finials are all of red narra embellished with diamond–shaped carabao bone inlays in star patterns enclosed by linear carabao bone and kamagong inlays. The panel of stylized pennants at the back of the table serving as an apron, also of golden narra, is an important, omnipresent detail of the oldest mesa altar/ altar tables in the Baliuag style. A furniture–making tradition flourished in the town of Baliuag, Bulacan in the plains of Central Luzon from around 1800 until after World War II. It is postulated that the American traders from the East Coast (Boston and New York), busy with commodities trading in Las Islas Filipinas much more than the Spanish colonizers, capitalized it 80 PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE ROMEO JORGE COLLECTION A Mesa Altar (Sheraton) 2nd quarter of the 19th century (1825 – 1850) Baliuag, Bulacan narra and tindalo wood (Pterocarpus indicus and Afzelia rhomboidea) kamagong and lanite inlay (Diospyros discolor/Diospyros blancoi and Kibatalia gitingensis) H: 35 1/2" (90 cm) L: 27" (69 cm) W: 52 1/2" (133 cm) P 700,000 PROVENANCE Private collection, Manila. for their purposes since the predominant forms and decorations were American Federal in nature. The furniture forms were derived from European neoclassicism but the style was particularly American Federal, the woods used for cabinetry were mostly golden narra with a few in tindalo and kamagong, the decorations were carabao bone, lanite, and kamagong inlays, with some very rare pieces decorated with MOP mother–of–pearl inlay. The furniture workshops of Baliuag, Bulacan produced this type of neoclassical bone, lanite, and kamagong–inlaid mesa altar with a bowfront, three drawers, and four square, tapering Hepplewhite legs from 1825–50. The overall look is redolent of an English/American Sheraton–type sideboard and that was why local antique dealers and agents called such pieces as Sheraton. This Baliuag mesa altar is of the specific type most sought after by collectors and connoisseurs. First, it is an early production from 1825–50, so the pieces were crafted one by one with much thought; there was the luxury of time and artistry; there were no cookie–cutter production lines yet. Second, the materials used are superior, mature woods since good lumber in the Central Plains, not the Sierra Madre mountains, was still plentiful at the time. Third, the neoclassical bone, lanite, and kamagong inlay decoration is restrained and elegant, almost sparse, yet consistently inventive; the overdone bone–inlaid follies of the mid– twentieth century had not been imagined yet. Fourth, it is rare, not many of the early type were produced and even fewer survived the destruction of World War II. That is why the appearance in the market of this specific type of early Baliuag mesa altar aka Sheraton is celebrated by collectors. During the heady 1980s, Sheraton mesa altar/altar tables reached their ultimate desirability when the Intramuros Administration represented by Jaime C Laya, Esperanza Bunag–Gatbonton, and Martin Imperial Tinio Jr, and top collectors Paulino Que, Antonio Tanchoco Gutierrez, and Romeo Jorge were at the pinnacle of the collecting game. Advised by leading antique dealers Ramon Nazareth Villegas, Osmundo Esguerra, Romeo Bauzon, Antonio Lammoglia Martino, Terry Baylosis, Jean-Louis Levi and Willie Versoza, the top collectors waxed rhapsodic over the most beautiful and the rarest examples and admired the latest acquisitions of their peers --- one entirely in tindalo with a bowfronted central drawer and flanking concave drawers with magnificent, Penaranda–style floral inlay (according to Martin I Tinio, Ex Coll: Maria Tinio Romero–Buencamino estate, Ex Coll: Tinio–Imperial family; presently in the Casa Manila house museum – Intramuros Administration; it has an exact pair, Ex Coll: D M Guevara Foundation-Museo ng Buhay Pilipino, Maria Tinio Romero–Buencamino estate, presently in the Museo De La Salle, DLSU-D De La Salle University-Dasmarinas, Dasmarinas, Cavite); one entirely in kamagong with six drawers and six feet and inlaid with carabao bone (according to Ramon N Villegas, presently in the Paulino Que and Hetty Kho collection); one classical example in golden narra with six drawers and six feet and inlaid with carabao bone, kamagong, and an unusual blue stone (according to Antonio Lammoglia Martino, Ex Coll: Dr Eleuterio Montano Pascual (“Teyet”) 1986, Antonio Lammoglia Martino (“Tony”) 1984-1986, Antonio Tanchoco Gutierrez (“Tony”) 1984, Governor Macario Arnedo y Sioco–Dona Maria Espiritu y Dungo estate 1912– 1984, bgy Capalangan, Apalit, Pampanga; Don Felipe Buencamino y Siojo–Dona Juana Arnedo estate 1850–1912, bgy Capalangan, Apalit, Pampanga; presently in the Jose Moreno (“Pitoy”) estate, 1987–present). (Augusto Marcelino Reyes Gonzalez III)