In what may be considered a significant celebration of Philippine arts and history, the León Gallery in Makati City has put together a year-end auction block featuring insanely chronicled lots, concurrent with the nation's observance of Bonifacio Day.
Jose Rizal’s artistic impression of a slumbered Josephine Bracken, alongside the last surviving Katipunan seal and a National Artist-made Andres Bonifacio bust, will headline León Gallery’s Kingly Treasures Auction happening on the 30th of November.
LAST KATIPUNAN SEAL
Bannering the Kingly Treasures Auction is Sello del Katipunan, the last surviving seal of the revolutionary organization founded and led by Andres Bonifacio– the life and legacy of whom the country is celebrating on auction day.
What is ‘Sello del Katipunan,’ and why is it important? Consider it the last living tangible proof of the secret society's intel-sharing mechanisms.
As an official stamp of the organization, and one of its figurative givers of legitimacy, the Katipunan Seal gives the present a glimpse of how critical information was conveyed during the revolution.
“It is an important testament to the legacy of Andres Bonifacio as the Father of the Himagsikan, so even after namatay na siya tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang Katipunan. Tuloy ang laban,” shared Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, a noted public historian and a curator at the León Gallery.
It is a relatively small seal– three inches long from the head to its handle –with a brass metal stamp head engraved with two sets of words: “Mataas na Sanggunian,” and “Katipunan ng Mga Anak ng Bayan” separated by two 5-pointed stars.
At the Seal’s center is a sun surrounded by finely detailed rays that house an ancient Tagalog symbol for Ka, which, according to Guerrero Nakpil, denotes ‘Katipunan’ and ‘Kalayaan.’
The round stamp is attached to a solid wooden handle that features softly chiseled curves for a narrow body and wide base– almost shaped like a chess piece.
The 1897 relic, a gift by Katipunan leader Julio Nakpil to Filipino scholar and politician Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, features a design that is both uniquely simple and simply unique, crafted possibly with the deliberate intent of making it handy.
The result? Low-key without compromising a level of intricacy that matched the organization’s status.
“The Nakpil family were jewelers eh– marurunong sila mag-cast. And of course it has to be small para madadala lang nila sa pocket, maitatago… You cannot just manufacture that. This is metal works, and pinong-pino yung lines,” explained Guerrero Nakpil in an interview with GMA Regional TV News.
How did Leon Gallery get their hands on this relic?
The heirs of Pardo de Tavera, who acquired the seal as a gift from Julio Nakpil, decided to have the historical item up for auction at the most trusted auction house in the Philippines.
“The heirs of Trinidad Pardo de Tavera– they were the ones who approached us and offered to put this lot up for auction,” León Gallery owner and director Jaime Ponce de Leon told GMA RTV News.
The Katipunan seal starts with a bidding price of P1.6 million.
“JOSEPHINE SLEEPING”
Even the astoundingly genius mind of Jose Rizal could not escape the arbitrary hooks of love. And hooked Rizal got when he met in Dapitan his Ultima Amor Josephine L. Bracken, the subject of the treasured sculpture that co-headlines the November 30 auction event.
What is ‘Josephine Sleeping,’ and why is it important?
The sculpture is the ultimate love of Jose Rizal’s life in the form of a delicately sculpted plaster in Paris, made small only in scale but not in its value to the enduring legacy of the nation’s ‘First Filipino.’
“Pwede natin matawag itong– if Da Vinci has Mona Lisa, this is Rizal’s Mona Lisa. Josephine Bracken is the Mona Lisa to Rizal, so in terms of significance, this is of such importance to Rizal as an artist,” said Ponce de Leon.
“Josephine Sleeping” is Rizal's 6x24x7-centimeter depiction of his beloved while in a beautiful slumber– a priceless fragment of Rizal’s clever imagination, carved out of passion for Bracken and chiseled in boredom during his exile in Dapitan.
Making it even more special is Rizal’s engraved signature at its bottom left just below where the torso of a dreaming Bracken rests.
“Josephine Sleeping” is a clear testament to the National Hero's unparalleled brilliance in the many forms of artistry that he was into, one of which is sculpting.
How did Leon Gallery get their hands on this relic?
The family of Jose Rizal’s sister Narcisa, who originally owned the lot, has decided it is time to put up for auction one of the his last sculptural works.
According to Ponce de Leon, having worked with the family of Narcisa before is the primary reason behind the mutual trust and confidence when it comes to monumental pieces like this.
“In this case, we already have a relationship with the family of Narcisa Rizal because this is the third sculpture we are selling for the family: the first was the lechon tray, then the Jabali, and now the most important one is Josephine Bracken,” he noted.
The "Josephine Sleeping" lot starts with a bidding price of P7 million.
The Kingly Treasures Auction will start at 2:00 p.m. on November 30 at the León Gallery (Eurovilla 1, Rufino Cor. Legaspi Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City).
