Page 151 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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An ivory carving of The Virgin and Child Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art | 149
Philippines, early 17th century
With long hair flowing across her shoulders
and back, clad in a robe naturalistically draped
to her feet and bound at her waist, and a
mantle patterned with rhombi tucked in at the
back, in her right hand she holds a rosary, her
fingers tenderly supporting The Child’s foot as
he sits in her left arm, dressed in a tunic and
displaying the gesture of blessing.
21 3/8 in. (53.4 cm) high
$8,000 - 12,000

In step with burgeoning global sea routes linking
Asia and Europe in the 16th and 17th century,
many migrants from the South Chinese province
of Fujian developed active trade links with Spanish
settlers established in the Philippines. Specifically,
the Fujianese community in Manila catered to
a demand for religious images from Spanish
missionaries, who brought their own prints and
sculptures to Manila, and had them reproduced by
local artisans. Chief among the surviving body of
works is the figure of the Virgin and Child, which
appears to have found a keen local audience.

This is a fine example of the development of the
Virgin and Child figure into a hybrid Hispano-
Philippine style. The pose and composition is
similar to ivories produced in Seville (see Marcos,
La escultura barroca de marfil en España,
Madrid, 1984, no. 445), although here no
mantle covers the Virgin’s head. The oval face
and half-closed eyelids, the alternating rhombi
and oval pattern on the neckline and detailing
at the hem of the sleeves, along with the
schematic folds of the robe gathered together at
the back of the figure, are typical of early 17th
century carvings in the Philippines, predating the
introduction of the baroque style. Compared to
a similar example published in Marcos Ivories
from the far eastern provinces of Spain and
Portugal, Monterrey, 1997, no. 14, the present
lot displays finer detailing in the robes and
greater naturalism in the Virgin’s flowing hair.

Ivory figures produced in the Philippines not only
catered to local taste, but were also transported
across oceans to adorn Latin American and
Spanish altars. The close connection between
Fujianese coastal cities and Manila also suggests a
transmission of style from the Philippines to China,
where carvers adopted the medium of ivory to
carve iconographically similar forms of Guanyin for
the domestic market - an example of which is held
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and illustrated
amongst similar figures at the British Museum
and private collections in The Oriental Ceramic
Society and The British Museum, Chinese Ivories
from the Shang to the Qing London, 1984, no. 20,
and Gao Meiqing, Chinese Ivories from the Kwan
Collection, Hong Kong, 1990. Highly influential,
the Hispano-Philippine style encapsulates early
interactions between Europe and Southeast Asia.

Bonhams would like to thank Julie Bellemare for
her assistance in cataloging this lot.