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The lady depicted in this large Fernando Amorsolo oil portrait — certainly one of the artist’s grandest and most elegant renditions — is Leonila Mercado Yatco–Yaptinchay (known as “Doña Ilay”), the Chinese mestiza matriarch of the affluent Yatco and Yaptinchay families of Biñan town in Laguna. Leonila is dressed in an elegant “traje de mestiza” of the 1880s with a traditional “camisa” and “panuelo” of very expensive, fully–embroidered “pina” textile over a skirt of shimmering turquoise French Lyons silk, overlaid with a “sobrefalda” (“tapis”) of black French Chantilly lace. She wears a large gold “tamborin” necklace of the 1890s type, matching earrings of large filigree gold beads, a bracelet of Isabel II 4-P gold coins, and hanging from her waist is a “porta abanico” (fan holder) of alternating Isabel II 4-P gold coins and gold beads. (These lavish ensembles of gold jewelry are among the many gifts of Ysidro Yatco and Bonifacia Mercado to each of their three daughters Salud [Perlas], Leonila [Yaptinchay], and Paz [Ocampo]; in turn, Leonila provides similar gold ensembles to her four daughters Trinidad, Tita [LaO’], Macaria [Abad], and Flora [Evangelista]. Much of the Spanish colonial gold jewelry of Biñan’s “principalia” families is sourced from the famous Paterno Molo de San Agustin atelier in Santa Cruz, Manila. The Biñan rich have a lot of exquisite gold medallions containing miniature paintings of religious figures and scenes by the talented Justiniano Asuncion y Molo aka “Capitan Ting,” a cousin of the superrich Paternos — they also have several oil portraits by him — all because Romana Asuncion y Santa Ana [“Romana Asuncion de Carillo– Trinidad” subject of an 1860s portrait by her uncle Justiniano Asuncion y Molo currently in the Leandro and Cecile Locsin Collection], daughter of Justiniano’s brother Antonio Asuncion y Molo and Remigia Santa Ana of Santa Cruz, Manila, marries a rich Biñan native, Andres Carillo–Trinidad, and thus, the network of exchange is opened between the patrician Santa Cruz artists and jewelers and the cash–rich Biñan “principalia.”) A truly affluent Chinese–Filipina, Leonila wears embroidered silk gloves from Paris and holds an exquisite French ivory piercework fan with handpainted silk and lace. The predilection for all things Parisian and elegant is inherited from her father Ysidro, who was the first in the family to travel to Paris in the 1880s, and brought home French creature comforts, not least of which were Cristal Baccarat chandeliers and table lamps, decorations, and furniture for his Biñan residence The imposing oil portrait was commissioned by Leonila’s youngest and favorite daughter Flora Yatco Yaptinchay–Evangelista (“Flory”; Mrs Teodoro Evangelista Sr) from Fernando Amorsolo in 1955 following the commission of her own portrait in a Ramon Valera wedding dress the year prior (1954). Leonila’s granddaughters remembered Amorsolo arriving and staying for most of the day from lunch to merienda as he discussed lengthily the new portrait commission with their Tita Flory, who was as loquacious and demanding as could be; the young girls aged 7–10 were tasked by their Tita Flory to serve Amorsolo lunch and merienda. He enjoyed his weekend visits to the Yaptinchay–Yatco ancestral house in Biñan as it was a perfectly preserved time capsule from the 1800s, the way Flora’s good friends top collector Luis Araneta and heiress Chito Madrigal regarded it as well. The artist charged Flora PHP 5,000.00 for the full–length portrait of her mother, a very considerable amount at the time. The portrait was based on a small, hand–colored studio photograph of the subject from the 1880s (the antique photograph still exists in the possession of a very knowledgeable Manila collector). As Flora was disinclined towards Amorsolo’s plain, standard molded frames, the artist obliged his client and designed the original Italianate frame of bricks with crawling grapevines and fruits (current whereabouts unknown). In the small 1880s studio photograph, Leonila poses casually in an arcadian setting of trees, flanked by a plant stand of rattan and an old Chinese ceramic cachepot. Everything that Leonila wore in the portrait was well–conserved and labeled through the decades in various “aparadores” (cabinets) and “baules” (chests) in her house and occasionally shown to visiting family and friends by her youngest daughter Flora (“Flory”) who became the chatelaine of the old family house in Biñan, Laguna. Leonila was the second of the 3 daughters (the elder being Salud Mercado Yatco–Perlas and the younger Paz Mercado Yatco–Ocampo) — “Las Tres Marias de Yatco” — of Ysidro Yatco, of Biñan’s oldest Chinese mestizo fortune derived from ricelands, sugarlands, and dry goods trading, and his wife Bonifacia Mercado, reputedly an elder sibling of Francisco Mercado (son of Juan Mercado and Cirila Alejandro; the name Bonifacia does not appear in that listing so perhaps she had another name, or was a half–sister, a first cousin, or a second cousin), the father of National Hero Jose Rizal. Both Ysidro Yatco and Bonifacia Mercado were closely related by blood to Francisco Mercado, hence the relations to the Rizals were twice over. The pretty Leonila was the favorite daughter. She always acknowledged that Pepe, Paciano, and the sisters were her cousins as well as uncles and aunts, albeit not as rich as she was. In her parents’ memories, cousin Pepe was an unusually intelligent, rather smart–alecky, talkative, and “malikot” restless child, at least when he wasn’t sick with something, which was often. Relations between the Yatco sisters Salud, Leonila, and Paz and their younger Mercado–Rizal cousins were close and cordial. As children, the cousins played in the Yatco–Mercado “azotea,” “cocina,” and “antecocina” (where the stone “aljibe” water cistern was), right beside the “comedor” dining room and “caida” entrance hall. They liked to sit on a long bench and gather around the “dulang” low dining table. Leonila related to her children that after cousin Pepe’s execution in December 1896, his younger sisters had come to the house requesting financial assistance; the Rizal family’s assets had been confiscated by the Spaniards. They had to pass surreptitiously through the “voladas” (galleries) of the house like servants to avoid the attention of the household staff and possibly of the roaming “guardia civil.” Leonila’s parents did extend financial assistance to their beleaguered Rizal relations, but they did so at great risk to their lives, livelihood, and reputation. Cordial relations continued up to the prewar, with the younger Rizal sisters visiting their affluent Yatco–Mercado cousins in Biñan. During World War II, Leonila’s son Isidro (“Sidring”) offered the hospitality and relative safety of the house to his good friend Jesus Amado S. Araneta (“Amading”) and his family, including an eccentric aunt who did not like to be kissed nor touched. Amading’s youngest daughter Maria (“Baby”) brought her beautiful American and European dolls, to the delight of the young Yaptinchay granddaughters. The Ysidro Yatco–Bonifacia Mercado residence (which later became the Pablo Yaptinchay–Leonila Yatco residence) was composed of the original, 1820s bahay–na–bato connected by a commodious stone azotea to a newer, larger, 1840s bahay–na–bato which served as its principal façade. Another version in the family related that the couple Ysidro Yatco and Bonifacia Mercado had built the 1840s house in front and then purchased the old 1820s house at the back to connect the two properties, a common practice at the time. In any case, the residence was large, composed of two houses connected by a stone “azotea.” Leonila and her two sisters lived in then unheard–of luxury as the daughters of Biñan’s preeminent citizens at that time (1870s onwards). Imported French, English, American, and Chinese furniture graced the reception rooms. Elegant furniture from the redoubtable Chinese cabinetmaker Ah Tay in Binondo, Manila appointed the various rooms (there were four marbletop “lavadoras” washstands and four “peinadoras” dressers in the house; a grand house usually had only one of each). European crystal chandeliers, hanging lamps, and table lamps lit the rooms. The “caida” entrance hall was furnished with comfortable local and imported armchairs, round marbletop tables and side tables; memorable was a French Empire–style completely gilded, marbletop console supported by an eagle. There were tall mirrors over console tables. An American Victorian gasolier hung from the painted ceiling secured with buttonlike discs. There was also a tall German grandfather’s clock. Casually placed everywhere, on tables and on the walls, were the family’s travel souvenirs from times past. In the commodious “sala,” large, lifesized oil portraits of Ysidro Yatco and Bonifacia Mercado by Antonio Malantic y Arzeo of Tondo, Manila hung on the far walls; a seated oil portrait of Pablo Yaptinchay y Gana by Justiniano Asuncion y Molo of Santa Cruz, Manila hung on one narrow wall. The walls were covered in canvas painted with arcadian scenes of trees and forests, hills and mountains by theater artists. A large grooved marbletop table with C–scroll legs occupied the center of the “sala,” with marbletop console tables in the same style along the walls set under large mirrors. Seating in the sala was originally of traditional “Luis Quince” and “Carlos Trece” style armchairs and sofas as well as the erstwhile fashionable Thonet “Vienna” bentwood chairs of the 1800s but were replaced during the prewar with sturdier chairs and sofas in the geometric Art Deco style by Gonzalo Puyat. A big Eastern rug covered the center of the floor. A pair of Cristal Baccarat chandeliers hung from the painted ceiling, the matching sconces on the walls; they were purchased by Ysidro Yatco in Paris during the 1880s. A pair of antique Chinese Ch’ing dynasty ceramic Foo dogs sat on the console tables; in a nod to Chinese ancestral traditions, that pair was brought to the Yaptinchay–Yatco family mausoleum as decoration every 01 November. The “comedor” dining room featured a long “sola pieza” one–piece dining table of “golden narra” wood with its twenty–four dining chairs. There were sideboards on all four sides of the room flanked by multiple display cabinets for china “vajilleras,” crystal “cristalerias,” and silver “plateras.” Much of the china, crystal, and silver ware were purchased by Ysidro Yatco in France and England in the 1880s. Like the “caida,” there was also a tall German grandfather’s clock. Up to the 1970s, the Yaptinchay–Yatco house was one of the very few bahay–na–bato to still have its original silk damask “punkah” (cloth ceiling fan) functioning. The “cuartos” bedrooms had elegant 1840s tester beds in “kamagong” wood as well as ornate 1870s tester beds in “golden narra” wood, not to mention the prestigious “calabasa” beds of Ah Tay. There were many “aparadores” of various styles to store personal possessions; one aparador contained Leonila’s old issues of “La Moda Elegante,” an 1800s fashion magazine. The “cuarto principal” master bedroom had a grand matrimonial bed elaborately carved with swallows, cranes, incense burners, phoenixes, and dragons with solomonic testers fronted by a comoda– altar with a magnificent tableaux of the Crucifixion in ivory encased in a kamagong urna, and flanked by ivory images of “San Jose Patriarca,” “San Roque de Montpelier,” and “Santa Barbara, virgen y martir.” Most of the ivory santos in the Yaptinchay–Yatco house were by the Biñan crowd favorite, Leoncio Asuncion y Molo of Santa Cruz, Manila, brother of the painter Justiniano Asuncion y Molo. Several of the “aparadores” tall cabinets were by another Biñan crowd favorite, Ah Tay of Binondo. The Yaptinchay–Yatco “antecocina” and the “cocina” had an “aljibe,” a stone water cistern. A plain “aljibe” was a common feature of a bahay–na–bato, it was usually part of an azotea, and at that time of no running water, it stored rainwater necessary for household chores. However, to have an elaborate “aljibe” with a stone turret concealing the well, tiled roof, and an earthenware pineapple finial as part of the water filtration system was entirely another matter of finances altogether. Few Filipino bahay–na–bato had elaborate “aljibes,” among them the Yaptinchay– Yatco in Biñan, Laguna, and the Constantino in Bigaa, Bulacan (now Balagtas). To contextualize these domestic, seemingly trivial matters, one should understand that well–off Filipino houses were sparsely furnished up to the end of the Spanish period in 1898 as fine furniture, both imported and local, were expensive and imported lighting and decorations, much more so. To have a houseful of European luxuries was a great economic and social feat up to the end of the Spanish regime. The old 1820s house had been turned into one long hall which held a staggering, albeit pious, display of antique ivory santos in “virinas” on oversized Sheraton–type “mesa altar” altar tables with discreet bone and kamagong inlay, one after the other in succession. In those days, it was the height of taste and style, not to mention social acceptability, to spend lavishly on the household icons, certainly not on oneself. It could have well been the splendid ensemble described by Fray Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga OSA in Biñan, Laguna in 1799, the only other possibility was at the nearby Alberto residence. The Yaptinchay– Yatco residence in Biñan, Laguna with its neoclassical architecture and elegant furnishings represented an ideal example of the Filipino “bahay–na–bato” by the high standards of the late Filipiniana authority Martin Imperial Tinio Jr. Leonila Mercado Yatco married Pablo Gana Yaptinchay in the 1890s and they had seven children, three sons and four daughters: Jose “Pepe,” Francisco , Isidro “Sidring,” (married Josefina Yatco; his best friends were Jesus Amado Sitchon Araneta (“Amading”) and Nicasio Chiong–Veloso Osmena (“Nick”); the high–profile Sidring parlayed his Yaptinchay–Yatco inheritance to a large fortune in the heavy machinery business, had his offices in Hong Kong, and lived at The Peak), Trinidad “Ate,” Tita “Tating” (married LaO’), Macaria “Nena” (married Eliseo Abad), Flora “Flory” (married the eminent Teodoro Evangelista Sr – Executive Secretary of President Elpidio Quirino; Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of Education; FEU Far Eastern University President). The house was designated as “comunidad” in Leonila’s last will and testament but Flora paid off her 6 siblings and it became solely her property.