337. THE PCI BANK MARIAN EXHIBIT , 8-30 Sep. 1985, Makati

Highlights from the PCI Bank Marian Exhibit held from Sep. 8-30, 1985 at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Hall, PCIB Bldg. Makati. The Opening Ceremonies were attended by His Eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin with Mrs. Imelda Cojuangco as Guest of Honor. 

These pictures of various Marian images were featured in the book, “Bimillennium: Kaarawan ni Maria, 1985 Marian Year Book, published by Mrs. Luz M. Santos. Credits to the book publisher, as well as the photographers of these photos.

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324. Mother and Child of Ancient History: STO. ROSARIO

One of the most important and popular devotions in the Philippines  is centered on Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary –or simply, Virgen del Rosario or Sto. Rosario, patroness of countless far-flung barrios, towns, cities and parishes in the country. It is a Dominican devotion that dates back to th 13^th century and propagated throughout the world. It is no wonder that many home altars feature images of Sto. Rosario, showing the rosary-holding Virgin with her Child Jesus.

This century-old Sto. Rosario is one such example, carved by an artisan of extraordinary skill, in the classical style. The image was found in Bulacan, in a house demolition-cum-antique shop, part of a lot of antiques that the proprietor was trying to dispose. 

One look and you can tell that this is not the work of a folk santero, for it is exceptionally carved in classical 19^th century style, with many wonderful details. It is surprising that this Sto Rosario was carved from softwood, given its quality. But then again, the soft, easy-to-carve material may have inspired and allowed the artist to put in more details.

This Sto. Rosario stands 16 inches tall, inclusive of the  plain,  squarish base with 2 frontal corners lopped off. The image alone is about 13 inches tall. Both Mother and Child are crowned with small parts missing, including their hands.  A small, hand-made rosary fashioned from coconut beads, could have been held in the Virgin’s right hand.

But that do not detract from the beauty and antiquity of this religious statue, which is heavily patinated and darkened with age.

The Virgin cuts a matronly figure, with a plumpish face and built. She stands with a bit of a hunch, her head in a frontal gaze, with facial features well-defined: from her full cheeks,  deep-set eyes, lips ending in a slight curl,  and neck rings. The Niño’s features are hidden in the thick patina, but it is also well-executed, with the Virgen  supporting Him precariously  with her left hand on His knee.

Wearing a cope-like cape that is buttoned on the neck, then draped and gathered on her waist, the Sto. Rosario stands on a cloud-like peana with feet showing, borne by a curly-haired cherub with downcast eyes. The paint has peeled off in her lower extremities, with the primer (gesso) showing, but with traces of gilt still visible.

Most of her back is covered by her lush, flowing hair that reaches down her knees. Hair strands are defined by shallow carving, more detailed on the side.  Whoever carved this work of devotional art should be happy to know that his Sto. Rosario-- a product of his skill and passion-- has survived all these years, cared for and loved by an antique collector.

208. OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY, Santissimo Rosario Parish, U.S.T.

OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY, Santissimo Rosario Parish, U.S.T. ca. 1960. 

 The 1960 celebration of the Feast our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, from September 24 to October 2, was pacled with activities and marked with great pageantry, culminating in the grand procession of the images of Our Lady and St. Joseph in the late afternoon of Oct.2, Sunday. The Santissimo Rosario parish itself was erected on 2 May 1942, with its seat at the Students’ Chapel and Fathers’ Residence of the UST.

The first parish priest was the very rev. Fr. Emiliano Serrano O.P. U.S.T.’s close association with Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary began just before Santo Domingo Church was firebombed in December 1941, at the heaight of war. The miraculous image of our Lady was transferred under military escort to San Juan de Letran. But with Letran also under threat, the image was transferred to the U.S.T.’s Students’ Chapel where Our Lady stayed as a refugee, until her enshrinement at her magnificent church in Quezon City, built in 1954.

 A replacement image was installed in the chapel, made of wood and carved in the round. It depicts a standing Mary, with the Christ Child on her left arm, while holding a rosary with the fingers of her right hand. The smaller-than-lifesize crowned image stands on a cloudy base adorned with flowers. 

The devotion to Our Lady never waned even with her transfer, but in fact, became even stronger, as people flocked to U.S.T. to implore her maternal assistance particularly in October. The 1960 solemn festivities were marked with daily masses, novenas, flower offerings and vigils.

Block rosary units, established early in the parish area, practiced the “recitation of the rosary in the “Rosario de la Aurora”(dawn rosary) procession. This devotion took place at 4 a.m. on the first Saturdays of the month—from May to October. The faithful, carrying images our Lady and their candles, assembled at the U.S.T. gate and marched in procession around the campus, singing Ave Marias and praying the Rosary.

 Today, the grandeur that was the pre-war Santo Rosario fiesta lives on, as more devotees from all corners of the Philippines gather every October to personally reaffirm their faith in the unfailing protection of their patroness, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.

177.RELIGIOUS IVORY ARTS DURING THE SPANISH PERIOD

 (Excerpts from Chapter 2, The Arts of the Philippines 1521-1957, ed. By Winfield Scott Smith, Manila, 1958. Published by Associated Publishers, Inc. , p. 9, 14, 15). 

SAN ANTONIO. Ivory polychromed and gilded. Philippine-Chinese school of the 18th century. Unsuual in that the figure is rendered in ivory, harking back to an earlier tradition. The ivory has been enriched with paint and gold leaf (F. Zobel Collection). 

 SAN JOSE. The head and hands were usually fashioned of ivory while the body was a wooden structure under the heavily embroidered robes. Often, human hair was used and frequently, gold, silver and previous jewels were used with the embroidery. (Miss Adelaida Paterno Collection). 

NUESTRA SEÑORA DEL ROSARIO. An execellent example of highly finished and elaborately conceived images popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, and still treasured as family heirlooms. (Miss Adelaida Paterno Collection). 

 SAN ANTONIO. Ivory figurine clothes in robes embroidered with prescious metals. The hair is real. Probably late 18th or early 19th century. . (Miss Adelaida Paterno Collection).

A word should be said about sculpture in ivory. Unlike wooden sculpture, large numbers of old ivory have survived to our day. Their survival was caused, not only by their small size, but by the intrinsic value of the material involved. On the whole, the ivory statuettes lack the vigor of their wooden brethren. Ivory lends itself to technical virtuosity, distracting to the spectator and apparently irresistible to the ordinary craftsman. The worst examples replace expression with simple enumeration. They become mere catalogues, of eyebrows, toe nails, buckles and glass eyes with nothing in particular to hold them together as artistic statements.

The craftsmen who carved them were perhaps too skilful and copied their models over-conscientiously, putting manual dexterity over imagination. As forms of artistic expression, the majority of these figurines are of little artistic and historical value, though they are pleasant enough in their Victorian quaintness, especially when furnished with glass eyes, real hair and elaborately embroidered robes that hide, more often than not, a wooden body.

123. VIRGEN DEL ROSARIO: A Patron Recovered, A Devotion Restored

For many years now, I have been looking for an affordable antique Nstra. Sra. Del Rosario ivory; we have long considered the Virgin of the Holy Rosary as our family patron. After all, my mother’s surname was Del Rosario, and as a young woman growing up in Angeles, she would pay homage to Our Lady at the ancient Sto. Rosario Church.

When my mother passed away in 2009, it became even more imperative to look for a Del Rosario image. Sometime in December 2009, I texted a free-lance dealer on a whim, asking if he had old ivories for sale. Sure enough, he texted back—he had one, he said—a Virgen del Rosario. I didn’ expect him to respond too soon, as I realized that my antiquing budget had been stretched too far with my almost-weekly acquisitions of vintage paintings, processional images (a pair!) and other sacred art.

But when he sent me an MMS photo of the antique image, I was taken by the simple yet beautiful qualities of the image, despite its flaws. Obviously, this is not a top quality image—the carving shows that: the facial features are not well defined and the fingers are of the usual “tinidor” style, associated with folk images. But the ivory parts of this Virgen del Rosario are complete, from the heads and hands of the Virgin to those of the Child Jesus. It is becoming increasingly rare to find complete Del Rosarios these days. Often,  antique shops separate the Virgin from Jesus, which are then sold individually.
  

A closer look at the images reveal that the bodies are without any damage and the original gilded base, though ridden with holes, remains intact. While the images still have their original human hair cabelleras (wigs), they have lost their glass eyes.

The vestments, with simple and sparse gold embroidery,  have also survived,  but I doubt if the tattered clothes can still be salvaged. I would be crazy if I passed up this Del Rosario, and so, after a short wheeling-and-dealing, the seller agreed to my offer and came rushing to my office to personally deliver the antique Mother and Child santo.

After Christmas, I came a –calling once more on Dr. Raffy Lopez, my suki restorer. He still had to finish my 3 santo projects with him, and here I am again with yet another one. Already harassed with vestment orders for the approaching Sto. Niño Malolos Exhibit on January 24, Dr. Raffy nevertheless took on my usual “no-rush” Del Rosario project.

Two and a half weeks after, I got a text that the Virgen del Rosario  was ready for pick up. Now, that was fast! As always, the results were amazing. Now outfitted with glass eyes, daubed with color and wearing new wigs (I had wanted to save the original frizzy human hair wigs  on the images as they gave them a real antique look, but alas, they had become too brittle to be re-used), the ivory faces looked more expressive.

Although we initially agreed on a blue and pink ensemble--a quick examination of the faded vestments actually showed her cape to be blue—I eventually opted for a cream and gold ensemble. Besides, I already had an Immaculate Conception vested with the same color scheme.
 

The vestment design was based on some antique metallic embroidery I had long ago saved from an a lost Del Carmen image. The rosette and trefoil patterns were re-assembled on the front of the robe and the cape, supplemented with new embroidery.

As I was absolutely clueless about  crowns and halos, I left the choice of metalworks to Dr. Lopez, who commissioned his platero, Dodong Azares, to make identical gold plated brass crowns.

A few before and after photos are shown here, to give you an idea of the extent of restoration done on the Virgin:

Thus restored, our antique Virgin del Rosario is housed inside a 20 in. made-in-Spain virina purchased from ebay, with a customized base provided by Dr. Lopez. 

Maybe I’ll add a mini-rosary and a scepter later, but for now, I consider this project completed.