346. FROM JOHN DOE TO ST. JOHN: An Antique Bone Santo Transformation Story

A BONE TO PICK. A nameless santo found in Ermita

I only remember hazy details of how I got this santo with head and hands made of bone. What I can only recall was that, I got this from one of the dealers in Ermita perhaps in the 1990s, when I started becoming drawn to ivories which I could not afford. 

Nobody knew who he was, as it was without clothes, metal accessories, wig and base that may have otherwise given us clues to his identity. Because it was affordably priced, I purchased this nameless santo and became a sort of a stand-in piece, as in my mind, it was the next best thing to owning a more valuable ivory. 

The antique male santo has quite a young, but expression-less face. It looks like it had been carved from cattle bone—square-jawed, with pronounced cheeks, but a finely detailed nose. There is a certain flatness to the carving, perhaps because bone tends to be brittle. 

Even with his painted features, he look so stoic, with lips pursed. He stares with bulging glass eyes and a blank gaze, The fingers are unremarkable, carved almost “tinidor-style”, with open palms. The bone head (a half-mask, actually) and hands are assembled on a wooden body with the usual jointed arms.

The closest santo that vaguely fills this male santo type is San Juan, the young apostle and apostle.  His most common iconography shows him holding a quill and a book—but this santo’s hands just jut straight out from his wooden arms. 

And so I decided  San Juan Evangelista he shall be.  Creating the look was my favorite ivory restorer, Dr. Raffy Lopez, who salvaged old embroidery from his “baul” of santo supplies, and incorporated them with new embroidery he designed on green and maroon satin. He also provided his “peaña” or gilded base, plus his wig. 

I contributed the paragua-style halo (which is a bit big!), and pukpok artisan gave me a new, silver-plated quill pen, which looked more like a sword than a feather quill. There was no way of having the right hand with an open palm hold it, so I just secured the pen with putty.  

FROM JOHN DOE TO ST. JOHN

After more than 25 years, still have this antique bone santo, even if, year after year, I keep telling myself to dispose it. The reason probably why I am hesitant to let it go is because of the interesting back story attached to the piece---of how a John Doe santo became a John the Evangelist santo!