365. SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR: When Vintage is Valuable

When I saw this 32 in. image of San Isidro Labrador on FB Marketplace, I thought it was an antique, crafted to perfection by an artist who seemed familiar with Spanish-style carving and religious iconography.That was until more close-up photos were shared, and I saw the still-sharp cuts and edges which bore tell-tale signs that the figure was not one. There certainly were attempts to make it look old like the effects of paint loss, missing hands, and attributes like the shovel or the sickle—symbols of the saint's work. One foot was also broken.

As the santo was advertised on FB marketplace

To soften and smoothen the look, traces of white talcum powder can be still seen in the crevices, mimicking dried layers of old gesso. Probably, which was why it remained unsold for days, ignored by true-blue antique collectors.

But age to me, while important, is not always the reason why I am attracted to newer santos of this kind. It's the excellent execution of this San Isidro that got me—presented alone on a base—without the plowing angel and the kneeling Don Vargas that one often sees on tableaus. Seldom do you see vintage santos of impeccable quality such as this one. 

This, surely was a product of a learned carver who knew his stuff well—from the way he accurately posed the saint with one hand on his chest,  while holding, on the other hand,  an iconographic  farm implement, now missing.

His carved costume depicts the common outfits of peasants in old Castile: a tunic with buttons that adjusted it to the chest, short breeches, high boots (or leggings) close to the knee, and a jacket collar, sometimes decorated with a frill.

The artist paid great attention to the minute detail--from the delineation of the saint’s hair, the creases on his forehead and sallow cheeks, to his windswept hair and tunic, and the folds of his boots.

I contacted the seller and made a few inquiries; he told me the San Isidro came from Samar, and that it was carved from 2 separate woods—the base being made of santol. He asked me what my plans were—will I restore it? Repaint it? He said it looked good as is. I said I don’t know yet. I made an offer, he made a counter offer, and the deal was sealed.

In a day and a half, the San Isidro arrived at the courier’s office for me to pick up. I wasn't prepares for its weight--it was very heavy, I had to drag the huge box to my car. When I opened the box back home, there it was---San Isidro Labrador---it was exactly how I imagined it to be---except for its denseness and extreme weight ( close to 10 pounds on a bathroom scale). I was later told it was ironwood (local name, mangkono).

I was in for another surprise  when a separate bubble wrap revealed  his pair of hands—they were not missing after all. That, along with a broken fragment from one boot. The holes at the bottom of his feet were outfitted with short metal tubes, to provide extra support when the image was attached by pegs on the base. That rather new feature proved that San Isidro may have been made in just the last 2 years or so, new by antique collectors' standards.

I decided to make a replacement for his lost farm implement. Using found objects at home, I created San Isidro’s long-handled shovel from a rattan stick, whittled down to the right circumference, to create a pole handle.  A rusty, mini-hand spade provided the metal spade, while its wooden handle  was joined to the tip of the stick to serve as a handle grip. A metal strip cut from an old liquor cap was ringed around the joined parts. The long-handled shovel was distressed and aged by rolling it over the stove flame, then brushed with mahogany stain.

The santo was not without flaws, with many nicks and dings, plus the usual cracks, so I had to fix these with a variety of  fillers--plastic wood for the cracks, and epoxy clay to fill in bigger gaps. 

One arm and left leg of San Isidro were a bit wobbly so I had to detach them to see the problem.  It turned out that the dowels or pegs used to connect arms to the body and the feet to the base have come apart. When all the parts have been secured properly, I found out one peg would no longer fit into the hole on the base; the position of one foot had moved a bit in the  regluing process. I had to open up the hole and dig in a bit deeper to fix my mistake.

The whole ensemble was then polished with bees wax which evened out and darkened its color to a deep brown-black and gave it a rich mellow sheen. Though a vintage piece, San Isidro appears much better now--looking more venerable, and more valuable than ever! 

Many thanks to Mr. Jay Consunji Capistrano for this beautiful piece, and for the use of his FB Marketplace photos.

359. SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR: A Bone to Pick, A Santo to Fix

Some 15 years ago, I was driving in the direction of Lubao when I found a row of stores along the road, and one instantly caught my eye: “PRINCE SECOND HAND-LUMBER and Antique Shop”.  Of course, I had to stop. When I came in, I was met by a young couple, and their little boy, who was carrying an old silver-plated monstrance. I asked if the monstrance was for sale, and the father said, it is, but right now the boy wouldn’t let it go, as he was “playing prusisyon”, walking around the room, holding the monstrance, pretending to be a priest in a procession.

The father said to give him a few minutes while he talk with his son—Prince--who, at that point was adamantly holding tight to the monstrance and would not let it go In the meantime, he said, please feel free to check the other stuff in his warehouse.

Thank God, the big piles of lumber from demolished old houses were separated from the “antique” section of his shop, that included vintage furniture, aparadors, salvaged architectural details and iron grills. I noticed a few religious items there: an escayola Buenviaje in its own urna, a framed communion certificate.

There must be more where they come from, I thought to myself. And sure enough, when I opened a comoda, an inner shelf revealed something extraordinary—a naked santo, with a thin manikin body, outfitted with a solid bone head and hands! 

One look, and I saw a vision of San Isidro Labrador holding a farm implement. The shop owner entered the room at this point, ending my reverie. “Oh, you found the old doll”, he said. I corrected him by saying that the figure is, by all indications, a santo. “Ah, I didn't know it's a santo! That means it will be a little bit more expensive then”, he continued. Me and my big mouth.

When he mentioned the price, well, it wasn’t bad as I imagined it to be! In fact, I could pay for it now! So that’s how I got the bone-faced San Isidro home.

The next work week, straight to the taller of Dr. Raffy Lopez the santo went. The 10 inch high santo, he said, was finished well, considering it was bone, a medium difficult to carve as it is brittle, breaking easily. This does not allow the carver much leeway to carve in finer details, which explains why bone santos do not have well-delineated faces and hands, looking stiffer, more folksy than their ivory counterparts. But this did not diminish at all the charming quality of this piece.

There was a possibility too that the santo was originally a San Jose, as it was found without identifying elements associated with San Isidro, like an ox, kneeling landlord, a plowing angel. But Dr. Lopez was confident he could recreate San Isidro’s likeness using this bone figure, even without those iconographic parts.

The first thing he need to do was to look for a proper base for it, and he found one—a folksy painted mortar base with remnants of green and dull yellow colors. Once he had that, he started his work on the bone santo, a process that took a month.

When, finally, he revealed SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR, the results were dramatic as seen from these photos. Only the lips needed to be defined, as the bone head still had its original glass eyes and painted beard. A new jusi wig and an old halo from the doctor’s collection topped the head of the santo.

The deep yellow satin cape and the knee-length drab green tunic complemented the colors of the base, which raised the santo’s height to about 16 inches tall. The gold embroidery was limited to the hems of the cape and the lower part of the tunic, fitting for a male saint.

The restores San Isidro sports knee high, leather boots, fashioned from soft imitation leather scraps. His left hand clutches a new, long-handled shover made of wood and tin. As the santo was tall and narrow. I had a customized glass case made for him, similar to Japan-made glass doll cases.

I only have 5 bone santos in my collection, and this restored San Isidro is one of the more special ones because of the story of its discovery, finding it by mere happenstance. 

Oh, and the silver monstrance? I got that too, the next day, pried off from the hands of Prince by his father, while he lay sleeping. I wonder what happened when he woke up. He should be about 18 years old now—is he pursuing a priestly vocation? I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

347. SAN ISIDRO AND HIS MILK BOX URNA

One of the most quaint folk art pieces I acquired just has to be this tiny San Isidro Labrador from Bohol, that was matched with a hand-made wooden urna, fashioned from an old wooden milk crate.

SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR BOHOL SANTO, 

The century-old San Isidro—a shade over 5 inches, excluding the base—is a typical Bohol piece with some of its brilliant polychromy still intact, all iconographically correct. He wears a green cape over a yellow tunic, with his boots on. He has missing hands, which once held a spade. 

The santo stands a mere 5+ inches tall

Despite the small rectangular base, there is a space once occupied by an angel plowing with a cow. The figure of the kneeling landlord is an optional element of the tableau, and he was left out in this representation, understandably because of the small dimension of the piece. 

Ordinarily, Bohol pieces were enshrined in folk urnas of the same qualities as the santo---small, brightly polychromed wooden altars embellished with relief carvings, raised by stair-shaped bases. This San Isidro, however, was found being displayed in an antique shop in a simple wooden urna, which stylistically does not match the Bohol style, but fits the santo’s size perfectly.

Wooden urna, handcrafted from milk crate

The small urna was ingeniously handcrafted from a milk crate—and the brand name can be found at the bottom of the urna to hide it—“Milkmaid Brand, Sweetened Condensed Milk". 

Milkmaid was an imported milk product, and it was first launched in the Philippines in the 1920s. By the 1930s, it was a successful brand, popularly known as “Marca Señorita”, because of the milkmaid brand character. 

Old Milkmaid ad, 1929

It was heavily advertised and promoted, and in 1929, Milkmaid even sponsored the search for the healthiest and cutest babies of the Philippines.

The urna itself, though simple in its creation, has many charming details. The “pediment’ is flanked by two “fence peg” spires. The double doors are hinged with wires, which were also used to make the latch. The boxy structure was attached to a 3-step stair base. 

 Its coating of white gesso or paint are still visible on the surface. Similar urnas made from commercial wooden crates were usually embellished with painted designs to make up for their plainness, but this example has no traces of color that I can see. In any case, San Isidro seems to be happy in his simple abode—after all, as a humble farmer-saint, he is used to a much harsher environment!

313. HONORING SAN ISIDRO, by Bibsy M. Carballo, Sunday Times Magazine

By Bibsy M. Carballo    /    Photos: Romeo Vitug 

Photos of  San Isidro, courtesy of Jayson Maceo

The Sunday Times Magazine, 21 May 1972, pp. 26-27

Sincerity Flamboyance, Festivity.

Nowhere else in the world, perhaps, is as much tribte and homage given to the food god than in the coconut-producing towns of Quezon province,

Perhaps it had to do with the utter dependence of the crop on the whims of nature; perhaps it can be explained through the people’s love for ritual and spectacle. Whatever the reasons, the fifteenth of May each year is a special day dedicated to San Isidro, patron saint of the farmers.

In Sariaya, boys clamber up abamboo
pole to try to topple it.

For weeks before this day, all regular work stops and the entire towns busy themselves in preparing the buntings and delicacies that will hamg from wondows and bamboo poles around the town.

Although each town celebrates the feast in its own way with even urbanized Lucena paying lip service with a few street decorations, the towns of Lukban and Sariaya, are the perennial competitors in the art of celebrating San Isidro.

The street is a mad sceneof happy grabbing and elbowing.

Lukban, with its candy-colored kipings in fancy shapes, its fruits and baskets, its entire window facades in a riot of colors. Sariaya, with its bamboo poles festooned with goodies which are torn down as the venerable San isidro passes by in the procession in the early evening; less colorful, less party-pretty, bit more exuberant and spontaneous.

A satisfied grin on his face, Sariaya well-wisher
walks away with his prized possessions.

And, as always, in keeping with the tradition of prayers for food and a good harvest, no visitor is allowed to go home empty. Food is literally pushed down one’s throat; it is an insult to decline. Houses are opened up to entire strangers; and as the Alcalas of Sariaya have found out, no one has really been proven to be the loser by such a reckless gesture.

168. COLLECTING MINIATURE SANTOS

Santos for personal devotion are common in European countries; small metal figures of Christ, the Virgin and patron saints kept in leather pouches or capsules are often carried by mobile devotees, and brought out during times of prayer and reflection. These are different from the Philippine metal amulets (anting-anting)  cast in the shape of small religious figures, that are meant to be worn on the body.

Santo miniatures, however rare are not unknown in the Philippines, as seen from these examples. Much smaller than the standard tabletop santos that range from 8 to 24 inches, these mini-santos of wood can be found in sizes from 6 inches to as small as 2 inches.

There's a quiet legion of mini-santo collectors out there who delight in amassing these small antiques for various, yet practical reasons--budget, limited display space and appeal. Artist Claude Tayag is once such collector, who collects santos under 8 inches tall. Indeed, they make for an unusual collection, and over the years, I have assembled a modest set that are no more than 7 inches high, exclusive of their bases. I am presenting these mini-santos along with a 3.25 inch tall gluestick tube to give you a size reference.

The tiny figure of San Vicente Ferrer stands just about 5.5 inches, without the base. Next to it is an even tinier San Roque tableau, carved with intricate details, so unusual for its miniscule size. San Roque stands a mere 4.25 inches without its peana and base, while its companion dog and angel are  2.50 in. and 2 in. respectively.

 A more colorful version of San Vicente Ferrer is shown above, purchased from ebay.ph. Standing on an orb, the 4 in. San Vicente strikes a pose with his emblematic book and raised upright finger. Overall, the santo is about 6.25 inches in height. Next to it is the kneeling figure San Isidro's landlord, Juan de Vargas, with a Lilliputian size of 3.25 inches. This used to be part of a tableau.

 A complete Sagrada Familia tableau carved from heavy wood stands in all its miniature glory on a base just 1 inch high. The adult figures of San Jose and Santa Maria are a shade under 6 inches tall. Both have traces of polychromy on their vestments.

 Meanwhile, the Child Jesus sandwiched in the middle is just about 3.5 in. The figures of Bohol provenance are all well carved and may have been housed in a matching small urna.

Though small in stature, these folk santos evoke the same charm as their bigger tabletop counterparts, losing none of their appeal and attraction--proof positive that big things do come in small packages.