Page 15 - Christies March 16, 2017 The Varata Collection NYC

A consummAte collector,

elegant in person and tireless in her support of
the arts, my mother Marie Theresa Virata was a
formidable character. Known to her wide circle of
friends as ‘Bebe,’ she was generous to a fault and
passionate in her beliefs.

I believe that the impulse for my mother’s collecting came from, on the Alice Boney visiting Angkor Wat, 1950s.
one hand, a deep curiosity for the antiquities of various civilizations Photograph courtesy of the Estate of Robert Ellsworth.
and, on the other hand, a desire to preserve the past. My mother always
spoke with great emotion about the destruction of Manila during the 愛麗絲•龐耐於1950年間造訪吳哥窟。
‘liberation’ of 1945, and how the ‘Pearl of the Orient,’ as Manila was
then known, was lost forever. Early travels to Spain and Italy infuenced 圖片提供：安思遠基金會
her taste and appreciation for heritage: in Manila, she visited churches
and historic houses to collect old furniture and religious sculpture—
items declared ‘unfashionable’ by her peers—which otherwise would
have been sent to the junk heap. When my sister Giovanna and I were
children, my mother dragged us to archaeological digs in Manila and
other areas of the Philippines. To our young minds, skulls and bones in
old graves were extremely dull; only later in life did we appreciate how
our mother opened a window for us onto history and culture.

As my mother traveled less frequently during the 1980s, I began to help her fnd works
for the collection. Together, we strove to acquire examples that were ‘out of the ordinary,’
such as the pair of early convex square-member ‘Gustav Ecke’ huanghuali armchairs; the
‘de Santos’ circular incense stand, similar to one in the Shanghai Museum; the Wanli kang
table, featuring the only known Imperial dragon carvings of its kind; and Christian Humann’s
huanghuali table with ruyi struts. While my entire family held a deep respect for the age and
beauty of these works, a chair was nevertheless meant to be sat on, a table to place things on,
and a cupboard to store everything from antiques to Christmas decorations.

THE MARIE THERESA L. V I R ATA C O L L E C T I O N OF ASIAN ART: A FAMILY LEGACY 13