Some P1.2 million was raised for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” during the “Kingly Treasures” auction of León Gallery last Dec. 7 at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center. The relief assistance will be coursed through the volunteer group RockEd Philippines.

“Kingly Treasures” featured paintings of Philippine masters and other  prominent artists, as well as Philippine antiques, furniture and decorative arts.

National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera donated his work “Mother’s Embrace,” for the auction; it raised P520,000. Meanwhile, Mark and Sue Piercey gave the earnings of the BenCab etching, “Edsa Event,” that fetched P80,000 during the auction.

“’Kingly Treasures’ did very well and strong especially for Philippine furniture. We hope  that there will be continuing interest in Philippine furniture,” León Gallery director Jaime Ponce de Leon said.

He said  RockEd would give the donation to survivors in Samar and Leyte in Eastern Visayas.

‘Fiesta’

The highest sale was  National Artist Ang Kiukok’s “Fiesta” (1974), which started at P1.3 million and was finally sold for P3,737,600.

Other works of Ang auctioned were the oil-on-canvas “Scream” (2002), which began at P800,000 and had a final selling price of P2,219,200; and “Figure 42,” which jumped from half a million pesos to P1.752 million.

Also fetching a high bid was “Dreamscape” (2013), an oil-on-canvas by Ang’s classmate and good friend from the Fine Arts school of  University of Santo Tomas, James Onglepho. With an initial bid price of P30,000, it skyrocketed to the final  P256,960.

Onglepho’s other work on auction, “Lotus” (2010), started on small floor price of P20,000 and went on to get a final high bid of P175,200.

Annie Cabigting’s “Splitting Splitting” (2007) won the second highest bid for paintings. Her piece skyrocketed from half a million to P3.504 million.

De Leon said Cabigting’s oil-on-canvas painting was the highest sold work of the artist at auction.

Tied at third place were Romulo Galicano’s “Sta. Ana” (1988) and Ronald Ventura’s “Temptation,” which were each sold for P2,569,600.

Rococo table

The biggest-selling antique was Early Rococo Mesa Altar made in the late 18th century. The bid kicked off at P1.2 million and closed at P1.752 million.

Other furniture bidded out included an Olympic-crowned Aparador made in the second quarter of the 19th century, and Partner’s Desk (1825). They were sold for P584,000 and P420,480, respectively.

The Philippine-Hispano ivory sculpture of the Virgin Mary from the 17th century called “Nuestra Sra. Del Pilar” was sold for P876,000. Another ivory sculpture, “Risen Christ,”  believed to be made between the late 18th and early 19th century, was also acquired for P876,000.

Other antique items auctioned off were the 17th-century Ivory Corpus from Philippine-Hispano, and School of Jose Honorato Lozano’s “Letras Y Figuras” (P327, 040).

Paintings of National Artists  were  auctioned off included  Vicente Manansala’s “Carabao” (P876,000, from P120,000); Napoleon Abueva’s “Untitled” (P443,840 from P40,000); and Arturo Luz’s “Collage 11” (P420,480 from P90,000).

An untitled painting of Juan Luna was sold for P443,840; it had a starting price of P140,000.

Other notable works that participated in the auction were Jose Santos’ “Choice” (P1,985,600 from P400,000); Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (P1,264,800 from P180,000); Macario Vitalis’ “Le Bal” (P1,051,200 from P160,000); and Elmer Borlongan’s “Halfway” (P700,800 from P120,000).

Also fetching handsome prices were paintings by Juvenal Sanso (P817,600); Gabriel Custodio (P233,600); Romeo Tabuena (P642,400); Lee Aguinaldo (P525,600); Romulo Olazo (P350,400);  Diosdado Lorenzo (P642,400); and Oscar Zalameda (P525,600).

De Leon said that, because of the success of the furniture auction, León Gallery would feature more furniture and antique items in its next auctions.

“We believe that Philippine furniture is really underrated (probably because) it has few collectors compared to art collectors. But it did very well in the auction,” Jaime Ponce de Leon said. “Hopefully, people’s awareness for Philippine furniture will grow.”