A 19th-Century Silver Tabernacle
Binondo, Manilasecond quarter of the nineteenth century (1825–50)
solid silver (Mexican silver, 80%)
48" x 36" x 21 1/4" (122 cm x 91 cm x 54 cm)

PROVENANCEPrivate Collection, Manila


In the Roman Catholic religion, a tabernacle is used for the proper storage of the Eucharist (consecrated hosts), which Catholics believe contain the real presence of Jesus Christ. This wooden tabernacle is covered in worked sheets of Mexican silver 80% and is from the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The door of the tabernacle features a repousse reliquary with the IHS (“Iesolus”) Christogram standing on Chinese clouds. The door is flanked by 2 Doric colonettes on both sides, the outer ones recessive. Above the door are lambrequins of flowers and leaves. Over the door is an entablature with a frieze of single flowers. Atop the entablature is a cupola with three sections. The central section features a repousse and chased “Agnus Dei” (“Lamb of God”) of a particular late eighteenth/ early nineteenth century type --- a lamb crouched on a Bible speared by a banner with the JHS (“Jesolus”) Christogram (the same type found on silver “guidons” processional banners of that period). The left and the right sections feature repousse and chasework of stylized acanthus leaves and native “catmon” flowers. The door and the columns are supported by thick plinth bases with suitable moldings. The base below the door is adorned with an applique of a chased festoon with flowers and leaves. The bases below the columns are embellished with appliquees of chased beribboned shields with flowers and leaves. This tabernacle came from a rich church, most probably from the Augustinian churches in Pampanga or the Ilocos, or the Franciscan churches in Bicol.A storied Neo–Gothic silver tabernacle is conserved at the Santo Domingo church in Quezon city. It was the tabernacle at the altar of the lady chapel of “Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario”/Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary known as “La Naval de Manila” at the Santo Domingo church in Intramuros from 1875–1941 when the church complex was bombed by the Japanese. It was most probably the work of a prominent Santa Cruz silversmith like Zamora or de Jesus, as the architect Don Felix Roxas y Arroyo was predisposed to collaborating with only the best artists in the city.The two best surviving ensembles of silver altars and tabernacles are to found at the Arzobispado de Nueva Segovia in Vigan, Ilocos Sur and at the Arzobispado in Manila. The magnificent “Monumento” ensemble in Vigan is in eighteenth century full–blown rococo style with altar frontals, a tabernacle, small sanctuary lamps, and includes myriad pieces like two small “baldaquinos” (shrines), “sacras” (prayer cards), candlesticks, “ramilletes” (silver bouquets), vases, “relicarios” (reliquaries), silver and gold chalices, trays, oil and water containers, etc. It once even included an opulent silver bed complete with miniature ivory angels and enameled bells for an ivory “Nino Dormido” accessorized in exquisitely worked gold.The splendid ensemble in Manila, originally intended for the private services of the Archbishop, is in the more restrained neoclassical style and has altar frontals, a tabernacle, an “urna” (shrine), a statuette of “La Inmaculada Concepcion” with ivory face and hands and the body wrapped in engraved silver, as well as myriad pieces like “sacras” (prayer cards), candlesticks, “ramilletes” (silver bouquets), “relicarios” (reliquaries), etc.The collections of antique Filipino silver in Manila are always a spectacle, specially since the 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 very private collection rooms in Manila containing a range of Filipino church silver: altar frontals, tabernacles, candleholders, “ramilletes” (silver bouquets), “sacras” prayer card frames, processional banners, “relicarios” reliquaries, oil and water vessels, silver appliquees for vestments, etc. The stimmung is certainly hieratic (otherworldly) and visions of the opulent ceremonies in the Intramuros churches during the 1800s come to mind.One of the things showcased in these wunderkammers is a Filipino silver tabernacle like this one. It was crafted from Mexican silver coins (solid silver 80% ) sometime in the mid–1800s, probably in Binondo, where most of the expert Chinese and Filipino silversmiths worked. That was about 200 years ago. The fashionable style then was late neoclassicism (Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis–Philippe), a French royal style loosely based on an amalgam of the previous neoclassical styles Directoire, Consulat, and Empire with their classical Greek and Roman motifs and Egyptian symbology. Those are the motifs albeit simplified in this tabernacle. It is composed of several parts --- the cabinet, colonettes, entablature, cupola, and plinth base. Two metalworking techniques that were used to decorate it are the conjunctive repousse (hammering to relief from the reverse side) and chasing (hammering to sink the front side).This tabernacle was made to be placed on the first “gradilla” level of an altar, the old kind where the priest faced the wall and not the people. It was usually flanked by six candlesticks and six “ramilletes.” The models varied in size and decoration to suit the customer’s budget. If it was Quiapo church or Antipolo church (superrich churches during those times, and even now) ordering this, it would have been larger, more elaborate, and brimming with exquisite details.This particular tabernacle came from a rich church in Pampanga, the Ilocos, or Bicol and was acquired in the early 1960s during the Antique Craze. The Augustinian churches of Pampanga and the Ilocos as well as the Franciscan churches of Bicol all had loads of beautiful antique silver during the Spanish time all the way to the American time, World War II, postwar, at least until unscrupulous and corrupt Filipino secular parish priests entered the story and sold them off secretly to antique collectors. All the antique silver are gone from the churches now. They are all with collectors in the t o n y Makati villages --- Forbes Park, Dasmarinas village, Urdaneta village, San Lorenzo village. Sic transit gloria mundi. 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, tabernacles, sanctuary lamps, candleholders (small and large), and “ramilletes” (silver bouquets) 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 tabernacle 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