“Pila Sa Bigas,” a 1972 pen and ink drawing by National Artist Vicente Manansala, became the most expensive drawing by a Filipino artist to ever sell at auction when it fetched PHP 686,312 (US$15,598 inclusive of buyer’s premium and VAT) at The Ilustrado Home + The Modern Decorator sale conducted by Salcedo Auctions last Saturday, 25 September at the Mandarin Oriental, Manila. The price set a new world record, breaking the old record for a Philippine drawing – for a much bigger Manansala charcoal – that sold for US$9,234 at Christie’s Hong Kong in April 2004.

Four bidders vied for the 35.5 × 57.5 cm (13.75 × 22.5 inch) drawing: an absentee bidder, two telephone bidders – one a local, the other from Singapore – and an expatriate collector who was present at the saleroom. Due to the high interest in the piece, bidding opened at the mid-estimate of PHP 530,000, rising steadily over the next six minutes, with the absentee bidder stopping at PHP 550,000, followed by the Singaporean bidder who bowed out at PHP 595,000. The unidentified local phone bidder held on till PHP 600,000, but eventually capitulated to the determined bidder on the floor, with the auctioneer hammering the sale at PHP 605,000 to rapturous applause from the audience.

According to Salcedo Auctions President Karen Kua-Lerma, the world record set in Manila marks a turning point in the sale of important Philippine art works, with collectors used to depending on auctions held overseas to realize returns at an international level now having an option to sell their prized possessions locally. She adds: “This reiterates our confidence in the quality of Philippine art, and the high regard that it is held not just here but overseas. Why unload abroad, when you can sell here? As for overseas collectors, we invite them to visit our website and to make an absentee or telephone bid or, better yet, to come visit our showroom and attend our auctions in Manila to acquire the finest examples of Philippine art.”

The Ilustrado Home + The Modern Decorator sale, which consisted of furniture, décor and objects of vertu in addition to fine art, totaled PHP 5,494,620 (US$124,877). 66 of the 141 lots sold, representing a 46.8% clearance rate by volume. Vintage and contemporary furniture achieved outstanding results with the Thonet and Selig chairs, and the Patricia Urquiola ‘Antibodi’ chaise lounge selling above their high estimates. All three paintings from the collection of Don Salvador Lagdameo, sold on behalf of the heirs of Benjamin and Elena Lagdameo were sold, with Portrait of a Student, a 1937 watercolor by Victorio Edades and Street Scene with Sampaloc Tree, 1934, oil on narra panel by Fabian de la Rosa achieving PHP 442,416 and PHP 1,077,680 respectively. Ronald Ventura’s Thirsty, the artist’s reinterpretation of Arne Jacobsen’s iconic ‘Ant’ chair for the benefit of the Philippine Educational Theater Association also sold at more than twice the auction estimate.