Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Salcedo Auctions holds first major Important Philippine Art & Furniture sale for 2021
to commemorate 500 years of cross-cultural encounters
LARGER THAN LIFE This untitled work in oil on canvas, the largest of
Elmer Borlongan’s works ever to go on auction, is the jewel of the
collection to go under the hammer at Salcedo Auctions’ March 13 sale
Was Ferdinand Magellan the first to circumnavigate the world? No, but
we’ll get to that later.
Was Magellan even Spanish? No, he was Portuguese. His name wasn’t
even Magellan, it was Fernão de Magalhães. He was a page to queen
consort Eleanor and Manuel I of Portugal, who later denied his campaign
to sail west, instead of east, in search of a new spice route on suspicions
that he was into illegal trading. So he went to King Charles I of Spain,
with which Portugal at that time was engaged in intense conflict. In
Spain, he was lavished with every opportunity to succeed, so he did. His
was “the greatest sea voyage ever undertaken, and the most significant.”
So said American historian Laurence Bergreen.
Not the first time I ever heard of this “very extraordinary thing,” but I’m
more than happy that since I first heard about it, I’ve come across it more
and more. In Jose Rizal’s essay “On the Indolence of the Filipinos,” first
published in La Solidaridad in 1890 in Madrid, he also wrote that “in that
very year 1521 when (the Spaniards) first came to the islands, there were
already natives of Luzon who understood Castilian.” He furthered that
“in the treaties of peace that the survivors of Magellan’s expedition made
with the chief of Paragua… they communicated with one another through
a Moro who had been captured in the island of the King of Luzon and who
understood some Spanish. Where did this extemporaneous interpreter
learn Castilian? In the Moluccas? In Malacca, with the Portuguese?
Spaniards did not reach Luzon until 1571.”
GHOST OF THE PAST Untitled, oil on canvas, by Dino Gabito
And that is why, I guess, when I took a tour of the lots as a preview to
Salcedo Auctions’ first major Important Philippine Art & Furniture sale
for 2021 under the theme “1521-2021: 500 Years of Cross-Cultural
Encounters,” I was hopeful that at last we could look at our historic ties
from a different perspective. There is no doubt that our encounters with
the West, not only the Spaniards, the Dutch, the British, or the Americans
or even the Japanese, but also the Chinese and the Arabs, with whom we
had engaged in trade centuries before Magellan’s expedition claimed to
have discovered us. Recounting what he read from Italian chronicler
Antonio Pigafetta’s account of Magellan’s arrival in the Philippines,
which he found in the original Italian in London in 1888, Rizal also said
that, upon arrival on an island now known as Samar, Magellan was
honored by the inhabitants and shown “their boats where they had their
merchandise, which consisted of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, nutmegs,
mace, gold, and other things; and they made us understand by gestures
that such articles were to be found in the islands to which we were
going.’”
ACT OF FAITH Territorial Terror, oil on wood, by Ronald Ventura
Ah, if Magellan and Pigafetta could only see us now, much richer than
they found us before, though a little worse for wear thanks to a series of
bad encounters with conquerors and imperialists. Even then, Salcedo
Auctions commemorates this milestone of our colonial history from a
context more Filipino-centric. After all, though we have yet to mine our
deep reserves of riches on the economic or political front, in the realm of
art we have delved deep enough, if not too deep, in our experience, cross-
cultural ties included, along with the conflicts and conquests and the
losses that came with them.
“After all, art is part of the very fabric of Filipino society. It has thrived
and endured throughout centuries of socio-cultural change.” says Salcedo
Auctions’ chairman and chief specialist Richie Lerma.
A MATTER OF COLONIALIZATION Untitled, oil on board, by Félix
Martinez
Rare and distinctive discoveries are on offer, some of them having
survived 500 years of colonialism intact, such as the King Bulol. From
Paris, a couple of watercolor illustrations by Honorato Lozano, one of
which portrays the Indios Tagalos in a fashion worthy of theater, serving
in fact as a basis for the costume design in one Ballet Philippines obra,
are among the pieces that speak volumes about our past.
These works of art are a testament to the riches inherent in the Filipino,
molded by his experience and further enriched by his centuries of
encounters with the larger world.
DOCTRINE ON MOLAVE A life-sized ‘Santo Tomas de Villanueva’ relieve
It’s been 500 years since Magellan’s historic arrival to the Philippines,
but have we come to realize we have given him undue credit by saying he
discovered us? Did he recognize how rich we were when his explorations
led him here in 1521? Yes, he did—and swiftly, claiming the islands for
Spain. Too bad, though he had much to gain from what he would consider
his discovery, including a cut of the profits, in the hands of a Filipino,
from the poisoned arrow of Lapu Lapu, in a skirmish on Mactan,
Magellan would die too soon, barely two months after his arrival, to
enjoy any of his rewards. Preview ongoing.
The Important Philippine Art & Antiques sale at Salcedo Auction happens
on March 13. For updates, follow @salcedoauctions and @gavelandblock
on Facebook and Instagram.