Santos Series 02: San Miguel

Last week, I chanced upon my in dealer's shop here in the Philippine city of Puerto Buenvivir, in the province of  Montemayor (of course, pseudonyms lang tayo dito) a nice vintage santo.  Immediately I knew it was a San Miguel. I salivated and my dealer saw it and damn, I could only nudge the price 10% cheaper.  I was thinking that such a choice piece will fly off the shelf as soon as another collector comes in. In fact, a buena familia customer who was inside the shop was eyeing this piece too. Before she swooped down and bought the antique, I immediately lifted it and took my sweet time in examining it (until the lady left the premises of course).  My dealer told me that this particular piece arrived just today and the only persons who have seen this was me and the lady.  She added that the item came from Bantayan island but carved in Bohol or vice versa.  I was skeptical and barely managed to keep my eyeballs from rolling. Provenance be damned.

St. Michael (San Miguel) is for me one of the more desirable type of santos there is, for two simple reasons: (1) it's rare to find a table top statue and (2) the ensemble of an angel killing a crouched demon is powerful and beautiful.  Imagine a supernatural diety killing a demon! It evokes the mystical feel in our Catholic faith of good triumphing over evil.  This same feeling goes for the Immaculate Conception with Mary trampling a snake.

There are a few depictions of St. Michael as a table top set. It may be because not a lot of families wanted to have an object with a crouched devil inside their homes. (Thanks to Alex Castro for the insight.) If indeed they are available, either they are modern fakes done in plaster or are large figures destined for church niches. And if they're really tabletop antiques, they must have been bought by wealthy Buena Familias. 

It takes a lot of luck and serendipity to stumble upon a piece.  This is why even if the patina of my item does not hark to the Spanish times, I suspect this is more than 50 years old.  I think this was made between the late 19th century and before the 60s.  The enamel pain is highly suspect, but the fact that the entire thing was carved out from wood with the white chalky gesso or escayola exposed means that this was made during the time when there were a lot of santeros around. Thus, I place this during the American period and the decade after the war.

It may not be really a great antique, but this San Miguel pleases me to no end. Because, in the end, you as a collector must derive pleasure in your purchases and not on the potential financial gain.