The idea
of buying antiques from a Philippine online shop is unthinkable for many,
because assessing their authenticity can be tricky just by looking at
photos—you can’t touch a santo, feel its weight, inspect its real condition.
You also have to deal with reproductions, dubious fakes, and scammers!
But
there are times when nice, genuine santos pop up every now and then on online
sites run by reputable sellers, piquing my interest. One such example was this Recoleto
SAN NICOLAS DE TOLENTINO wooden figure standing on an ochovado base,
found on FB Marketplace.
Recoleto
santos are
among my favorite collectibles because my “pueblo” was actually
evangelized by Recollect saints. Of the 4 provinces of the Recollect Order, one is named as the Province of San Nicolas de Tolentino, created in 1621. Seven friars, led by Fray Andres San
Fulgencio first came to the future Mabalacat in 1711, and found a
forest settlement inhabited by a community of Aetas, headed by one named
Garagan. The saint also holds a
special meaning to me as a Kapampangan since the renown pasalubong
biscuit from Pampanga was named after him--“saniculas”.
The
seller sent me more pictures for my perusal, and I was told that it had come
from Panay. The 14 inch. San Nicolas reminded me of some Puerto
Rican santos where the carving tends to be sharp and angular, with
unsmoothed edges and corners, as evidenced by the chiselling of the drapes on
the santo’s habit, fingers, sandals, and the 8-sided base.
The Recollect
belt clearly identifies the santo, who, a one point must have held his
attributes, now missing—a dish on where a dying partridge bird rested which he miraculously revived upon feeding from his
plate. His right had would have held a crucifix garlanded with lilies, to
symbolize his purity. This particular hand is an obvious replacement as it was
disproportionately bigger than the left.
There
are rectangular patches of gold-leafing in his black habit. The painter
probably intended to cut and shape these gold patches into stars, which are
also his emblems. Legend has it that stars guided him to Tolentino, near
his place of birth.
Paint
flaking was noted on the base, and the face of the santo. There was a hairline
crack running from the waist to the hem of the santo’s habit which has
started to open.
After
carefully assessing the condition of this folk santo, I decided to
complete it by reconstructing its missing elements. But before I could do that,
I had to attend to the more pressing concerns:
First, I
filled the hairline crack with plastic wood, which was like a wood putty with
the consistency of glue, used in repairing flaws on wood.
Once hardened, the
crack was sealed and the filling was painted black. The paint losses on the
face and the base were fixed with acrylic paints.
Now, I
could go to replacing the missing attributes. First—the missing halo. This was
supposed to be the easiest to do, since I keep all sorts of old metal santo
accessories, but it turned out the round, brass halos I have are so big.
Then I
remembered a pair of round, calado earrings that I wisely bought from a
tiangge years before—because they reminded me of santo halos!! So I just
added a wire in the center to form an umbrella type of halo, called “paragua”,
that I stuck into a ready-made hole on the top of the santo’s head
A plain
wooden cross would have been an acceptable replacement for the santo’s missing
crucifix. But I found a tiny wooden crucifix
with the metal corpus of Christ and aluminum cantoneras that was
actually a remnant of a rosary. I just shaped the end so that it could fit into
the grasp of the santo’s hand.
The
miniature bird on the platter was more challenging to recontruct. The plate was
fashioned from a metal cap (tansan) that I flattened with a hammer. To
remove the rubber seal and the brand name ( I used a Red Horse tansan!),
I just heated the crown until it looked blackened with age. The “plate” was
then pegged on the open left palm of the figure. I ran thru some 5 tansans
before I was satisfied with the result.
I have
saved the bird for last, because I know this would give me a hard time, To be
true to the wooden figure, I attempted to carve a bird, no more than a quarter
of an inch long, using balsa wood. But the wood kept on cracking even when I
was using an Exacto knife. I gave up after 2 tries.
Then, I came up with the idea of molding a small
bird from plastic wood I used before. I thought it would turn clay-like when
it’s drier, but the shape did not hold. Then I tried papier mache, using
fine paper pulp from tissue paper and white glue—the result was a sad-looking
lump, not a bird.
Finally,
I called on a lifeline—a friend and an artist who made miniature dioramas. How
could I forget Dodjie Aguinaldo!
So, based on my instructions, he
made me a miniscule quail (pugo) bird, hand-molded from air-dried clay,
just 1.5 cm. long. I just painted it after, lacquered it, and set it on top of
the tansan plate—a perfect fit!
As a
finishing touch, I found an old cast-iron, patinated salvage, once part of a
decorative applique for a door, perhaps. I nailed it on the front of the base
to make it look remotely like a carroza frontal.
With his
completion, SAN NICOLAS DE TOLENTINO, patron of souls in purgatory, has
just become my favorite Recollect in my santos grouping which I fondly call my “Re-Collection.”
MANY THANKS TO:Mr. LOUIE ASINAS, for the smooth, seamless deal on the santo, for your patience in answering my uestions, and for the photos.
Mr. DODJIE AGUINALDO, for creating the clay bird for this santo
