The Lazatin-Paras Cabinet
https://flic.kr/p/oNVmh2 | The Lazatin-Paras Cabinet | The Lazatin-Paras Cabinet 2nd Quarter of the 19th Century Balayong, Narra, Kamagong and Carabao Bone H:80 1/2” x L:58” x W:24 1/2” (204 cm x 147 cm x 62 cm) P 800,000 Provenance: Lazatin-Paras Family San Fernando City, Pampanga Lot 77 of the Leon Gallery auction in September 2014. For details, please see <a href="http://www.leon-gallery.com" rel="nofollow">www.leon-gallery.com</a> From the auction catalogue: The Lazatins are considered one of the 1st five families of Pampanga and are known for their large landholdings and luxurious lifestyle. This two-door aparador is simple in design, but is very well made and has many outstanding features seldom found in cabinets of this type. It even has secret compartments, while the base, the body and the crown are all detachable. The narra base standing on four turned, balayong feet shaped like inverted pinecones has a turned guava-like pendant of the same wood at the center. This pendant decoration, usually found in Bulacan side tables and sometimes on the so-called ‘magic tables,’ is seldom used on cabinets. This base, in fact, resembles a dulang and can be used as such. The skirts have a decorative border of lanite line inlay at the center of which is an inch-wide strip of narra alternating with kamagong and surrounded by lanite line inlay with a disk and a sprig of diamond shaped carabao bone terminating each end. The sides of the narra top of the base are inlaid with a continuous row of diamond-shaped lozenges of bone. The aparador, also of narra has two drawers surmounted by a pair of doors that open to reveal four shelves. Both doors have turned kamagong drawer pulls. Flanking the drawers are vase-shaped turnings, another unusual feature. Commonly used as finials, here they support the plank that forms the lower shelf of the cabinet. Above these turnings are very slim and finely reeded colonnettes with simple spool-turned bases and capitals that terminate in amphora-like necks. The drawer faces have lanite line-inlaid borders with a half-moon of small, joined bone triangles defining the keyhole area and are decorated on either side with a sunburst formed by a large bone disc surrounded by diamond-shaped lozenges. The drawer supports are inlaid with a row of diamond-shaped bone. The exterior sides of the drawers are bordered by a row of bone lozenges inlaid diagonally with a line-inlay of kamagong and lanite on the inner side. Sunbursts are on each corner with a larger one at the center from with leafy arcs emanating from either side. The cabinet doors panels are bordered by line-inlay and a sunburst similar to that of the drawers. Strips of kamagong with bone disc and sprig terminals, like those on the aprons, decorate the door panels. The sides of the cabinet are of balayong and have lanite line-inlay with bone sunbursts like the doors. The borders consist of a row of bone lozenges inlaid diagonally with a line-inlay of kamagong and lanite on the inner side. A large sprig ornament of three leafy twigs ending in a tear-drop bud is inlaid on the inner corners of the panel. A molded cornice inlaid with a row of bone lozenges is at the top. Over the cabinet frame is a detachable frieze inlaid with kamagong resembling 2–dimensional dentils. The crest above it, also detachable, is bordered with lanite line-inlay with a wider strip running horizontally along the center inlaid with a row of large discs that have large lanite leaves inlaid on either side. Balayong turned finials top each corner of the crest.
