ISABELO L. TAMPINCO...... “ LIBERTY”[ original title unknown]

ISABELO L. TAMPINCO...... “ LIBERTY”[ original title unknown]

 ISABELO L. TAMPINCO...... “ LIBERTY”[ original title unknown]

cast marble.

Sculpture 61.5cm high x 16 cm wide.

Base 20 cm diameter x 15mm high.

Signed “I L T”  [under the left hand on the wall at the back of the sculpture.]

Inscribed on the bottom of the Sculpture,

“ GRAN TALLER de ESCULTURA QUIAPO I.F. 1918.

Description.

This a beautifully sculptured piece by Tampinco, his mastery of the human form is in my opinion the standard set for all following sculptors that came after him. This sculpture is a fine example of his craftsmanship and able handling of the human anatomy.

From her stance and her holding of the lamp in her right hand, I believe that this Tampincos rendition is of Liberty otherwise known as Columbia.

Liberty has a soft serene look on her finely sculptured face, her head is turned to the right and she is looking off into the distance.

 Her hair is parted in the middle and swept back into two rolls on the top of her head behind a Tiara. The Tiara has a band of nine round stones across the front, two large stones at each end and the crown is set with one large stone with three stones on each side of it, three other small stones can be seen on the left side of the Tiara.
At the back of her head an indentation can be seen across the base of the head, suggesting a band coming from the Tiara to keep it in place and it is holding her hair down and the hair can be seen coming out from under the band and falling free.

She has two round earrings on the lobe of each ear.

 Her dress has a Princess line top, it has no sleeves and is caught up on each shoulder and falls like a cowl neck style across her front.

There is a band right around which can be clearly seen in the front and under the right side.

The band goes completely around the dress, signature of the Princess style, it is caught at the centre front by what seems to be a clasp or broach, there is one large stone set in it with two small stones beside it and one small stone above it.

The dress falls from the band around the chest down over another band/belt, this belt starts high on her left hip and then falls down onto her right thigh. This band is only visible over the right hip and stomach, in the centre of the band there seems to be medallion with three stones on it, they are quite faint.

There is a large stone on the right thigh where the dress splits right to the ground, showing the whole of her right leg and also the ankle and foot of her left leg.

She is not wearing any foot covering at all.

 The dress is dramatically draped all around her, at the back the draping is beautiful and especially dramatic draping over the right hip down to the floor. On the left front of the dress there is also heavy draping falling to the floor producing beautiful folds on the floor. The dress is beautifully draped around the belt/band revealing lovely folds all around the dress.

In her right hand Liberty is holding the torch, a simple design cone shape showing the flame at the top.

In her left hand she is holding a branch/spray of flowers that are hanging down from her hand along the wall at her back. The flowers are beautifully formed and look like large rose buds at the top of the spray.

From the back her five fingers on her right hand can be clearly seen holding the torch.

Her thumb and first finger can be seen holding the spray of flowers.

 She is standing with her back to the wall, it is ornately carved with an open mouthed Gargoyle at each end, the Gargoyles large bulbous foot, with four toes can be seen at the base of each end and the spur hook coming off each leg above the foot.

The Gargoyles wings are done like the leaves off an ornate tree.

The head of the Gargoyle has a cat like face, mouth open of coarse, especially on the right side of the wall where the features of the head are clearly distinguished and what looks like hair or a mane coming over its forehead and clearly seen falling down the back of the neck of the creature.

On both Gargoyles you can see five indents on the neck to give the creatures a reptilian look.

The center of the wall is relief carved and along the bottom of the wall is a rolled edge onto the walls base, with ten indents along it.

The inside of the wall is seen from the front, the Gargoyle is clearly seen on her right side and the inside is carved the same as the reverse.

 On the left side of the wall the Gargoyle is partly obscured by the spray of flowers.

She is standing on the top of the round flat base, it has a bevelled edge.

The base of the sculpture is in two parts. The sculpture has a base built into it, which she is standing on, the base is 8cm high made up of a flat top then moulded sides to the bottom of the base. The top base sits on a black stone base that is 20cm in diameter and 15mm high, it is also 15mm wider than the sculpture base.

On the front of the sculpture base is a relief carved motif with a cameo relief sculpture of a woman in the centre. She is set inside a circle of ten stones on each side of the portrait and it has highlight carving top and bottom. The sides of the medallion has a small Gargoyle head on the sides that flow into leaves.

The medallion motif is very impressive and does highlight the base.

Around the bottom tier of the base is written, “ GRAN TALLER DE ESCULTURA QUIAPO I.F. 1918 ”

Distinguishing marks.

+ The writing around the base.

+ It is signed “ I L T ” on the inside of the wall on her left.

 Comments
 

This truly a very beautiful Tampinco sculpture, it was very masterfully sculpted with great attention to detail without overdoing it.

I do especially like the cameo motif medallion on the front of the base and it would be interesting to know the woman who was depicted. Some have suggested the Queen of Spain but this was sculpted in the American period not the Spanish. As Tampinco was a classical sculptor and this Liberty is influenced from Roman classical sculpture Columbia, it is more likely to be Roman in origin.

This sculpture does seem to be a statement by Tampinco about freedom and liberty, before they were living under the rule of the Spanish and now under the rule of the Americans, the Statue of Liberty had been erected in New York [1886] as symbol of the freedom and democracy of the United States yet the Philippines had neither, maybe it was a protest or maybe it was just in recognition of the French sculpture of Liberty.

Tampinco is the great master of detail and this piece certainly displays his extraordinary talent and craftsmanship.

Written by,

Mark E Shellshear.

Art consultant

markshellshear@gmail.com