Wednesday, May 8, 2013

245. Carnival Mementos: PRESENTATION TROPHIES

LOVING CUPS & TROPHIES.Beautifully crafted silver trophies were presented to winners of various sports and music competitions organized during the Carnival days. These trophies are from 1912-13.

The Manila Carnival attractions included not just the Carnival Queen search but also the serious sports competitions participated by athletes fielded by schools and government bureaus. The sports events included Athletics, Basketball, Softball, Cycling, Indian Club and other field demonstration sports.

The winners were rewarded with beautiful presentation trophies, most of which were made by the talyer of Crispulo Zamora, who, together with his wife Pelagia, operated a successful metalcraft business in Quiapo, which he inherited from his father. His engraving plant, the biggest in the Philippines, also made religious plaques, school medals and metal buttons for the military.

His works for the Carnival first gained notice at the 1913 edition, where he made a precious array of trophies for contest winners and designed the magnificent crowns of the Carnival queens. His designs were always striking and imaginative, often mixing Art Nouveau, and later Art Deco style with Philippine motifs like bamboo, anahaw leaf and Filipina maidens.

Above are some of the magnificent silver trophies that Zamora designed and crafted,  each, a worthy and a fitting award to an athlete, for a job well done.

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