PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR
The “Batangas Dos” Mesa Altar
first half of the 19th century (1800–50)
balayong wood (“Afzelia rhomboideia”)
34 1/2" x 26" x 47 1/2" (88 cm x 66 cm x 121 cm)


PROVENANCE: Private collection, Batangas



The Batangas Dos Mesa Altar Inside a Time-Honored Tradition of PrestigeThis genuine example of a “Batangas Dos” “mesa altar” altar table of “balayong” wood from Batangas province has a “binandeja” (framed) top with a “sola pieza” one–piece of the said hardwood framed by thick panels with receding moldings on the sides. The tabletop is supported by the four legs of the casing, with additional support provided by the four, thick Chinese–style flanges --- serrated with a stylized pattern of pennants or finials, applied with “lanite” and “kamagong” wood line inlay --- attached to the casing. The two drawers are embellished with lanite and kamagong line inlay to simulate panels; there no drawer pulls nor keyholes, an indication that the owner/customer wanted restricted access to the contents. Underneath the two drawers is a thick molding which mirrors that of the tabletop, and under the molding is an arched, long, thick “cenefa” apron. The sides of the casing are solid pieces of “balayong” under which are also arched, thick cenefas aprons; the back of the casing has two horizontal panels of balayong side by side, under which is a similar arched, long, thick cenefa apron. As in front, so with the back. Supporting the four sides of the case are elegant cabriole legs terminating in ogee feet (stylized ball–and–claw feet in this example) on spherical bases atop equally graceful plinths. In a show of Sinitic precision, the four spherical bases sit on the intersections/ connections to the molded stretchers which are executed in the complex “xinmianping” style, a discreet trademark manifested by all genuine “Batangas Dos” altar tables. It is plainly visible that there was so much painstaking thought and effort expended on this piece by the master craftsmen that produced it. Among the most coveted pieces sought by serious Filipino art and antique collectors since the postwar years is a genuine “Batangas Dos” mesa altar, rendered in golden brown “balayong” wood. The type belongs to a series of remarkably crafted, Sinitic, Batangas “mesa altar” altar tables identified and described by Filipiniana scholar/ jeweler/antique dealer Ramon Villegas and antique dealer/ wood expert Osmundo Esguerra in the late 1970s as “Batangas Uno” for the rococo prototype, “Batangas Dos” for the transitional version from rococo to neoclassicism, and “Tuwid” for the neoclassical archetype. According to Villegas and Esguerra, the “Batangas Uno” prototypes were made by a master cabinetmaker who had his atelier in the area of what is now Taal town. In a seeming nod to the artistic trends of Europe in the eighteenth century, the initial rococo exuberance of the “Batangas Uno” prototypes were eventually tempered to the more restrained “Batangas Dos” versions towards the end of the eighteenth century. And then the “Batangas Dos” versions were completely reconfigured to more linear forms that became the “Tuwid” archetypes during the early years of the nineteenth century. There were possibilities of other master cabinetmakers, different ateliers, other style progressions (reverse? transverse?), indeed alternative narratives also in search of the origins of Batangas furniture but these were never raised by their antiquaire contemporaries. These theories of Villegas and Esguerra have not been challenged thus far. It will take another generation of Filipiniana scholars and many more years of intense research to reconfigure, refine, diminish or bolster the Villegas and Esguerra theories on classical Batangas furniture. In any case, the said series of Batangas altar tables --- “Batangas Uno,” “Batangas Dos,” “Tuwid” --- have long been possessions of prestige by their own merits and will continue to be so in the years to come. 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 collection of antique Batangas furniture, classic and primitive, is in the Paulino and Hetty Que collection. (Augusto Marcelino Reyes Gonzalez III)