Beyond the dated shimmer and intricate display of textures, Aileen Beltrano Bautista gathers antiques and Hispanic Philippine jewelry that hold stories all the way back to our ancestors’ time. In an exclusive episode of Pairfect, hosted by Dinah Ventura, the collector said that, for her, these art pieces may be considered as an extension of our nationhood and fashion.
More than the preciousness of it all, she prides ancestral rare finds as topnotch – evoking beauty in its most exemplary form, worthy to be recognized; each with a narrative that seeks to get into the light of the day, a statement that only the finest of scratches and the glossiness of the surface can tell.
“Our ancestors made this excavated jewelry, all Filipino-made. It was often associated with excavated ceramics,” she said. “My husband (Edwin Bautista) was into ceramics in the ‘80s. He was the president of the Philippine Ceramics Society. He saw the gold inside [excavated], the ceramics, the vases and everything.”
When asked about their plethora of collections, Bautista said she didn’t get how Edwin, CEO of Union Bank and her life partner, felt about collecting antiquities. Eventually his fascination somehow got to her, and now it is a joy she would like t share with others.
“My husband started collecting ceramics (blue and white ones), and after that, he went to swords, maps, big woods and furniture. I started collecting, not excavated Hispanic jewelry, but European jewelry. That’s why when we go out of the country, I usually go to antique stores.”
Since becoming fascinated and magnetized towards collecting, Aileen has been open about how she gravitates to buying Victorian and Edwardian art decorations, and Hispanic Philippine accessories, and thinking about showing it in an exhibit.
The couple, with Aileen’s initiative, have also decided that it’s about time they shared with the public the impeccable valuables they possess. It was on 31 August 2023 when her suggestion of doing an exhibit came to fruition right on her birthday. The Salcedo Auctions introduced a Private Art, Public Lives installment, centering the vision of bringing Bautista’s gems to Filipinos’ reach.
Her journey in collecting
“The design of our ancestors during those times, even before the Spanish came, was amazing,” Aileen recalls her fascination seeing Philippine excavated art pieces for the first time. “I (told myself) I will start collecting also.”
The magic of gathering these period pieces sparks her interest in gaining information, as plenty of unsung data dwells in attaining just one piece of jewelry, a factor that she mentions urges her to get almost everything for knowledge alone.
“There’s no cure to that,” Bautista tried to explain her fondness, or why it always transfixed her – a hunger for delving into the stories underneath the art pieces. As if it were the gold chunks and Hispanic antiquities calling her to complete them as a set, her passion has snowballed into a life-long commitment of tracing Philippine identity within her fashionable collections.
Private Art, Public Lives, with period gems of old Philippines, is still accessible to visitors. Mr. and Mrs. Bautista’s collections are not open for bidding as prices are already labeled on the antiquities, calling the attention of all art and treasure enthusiasts for it to be appreciated.