Crispulo Zamora

Crispulo de Guzman Zamora (1871–1922) is a Filipino silversmith, engraver, and sculptor.

Early life and education Zamora was born on June 10, 1871.

The Zamoras were a prominent family of metalcrafters based in Quiapo, Manila. Tomas Zamora, a relative, runs the Taller de Plateria, Escultura y Grabados in the district.

He would learn the craft where he will be famous in from his own father and became his apprentice. He would get his private education in the arts from a certain Jose Flores and later take formal education at the Academia de Dibujo, Pintura y Grabado (the predecessor of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts). His mentors included Lorenzo de Icaza Rocha (painter of Mujer Filipina) for painting, and Melecio M. Figueroa (whose works are depicted and featured in Philippine coins during the Insular, and Commonwealth eras, as well as the Third Republic after American independence) for engraving.

Zamora would later take further studies under painter Felix Lorenzo Martinez at the Escuela Practica y Profesional de Artes Oficios in Manila for the art of casting. After graduating, he would first work with his brothers in their father's workshop. After his father died, he made a name for himself in a separate workshop at Calle Crespo (now Felix R. Hidalgo St.), also in Quiapo, founded in 1890.

Career

He first dabbled with religious pieces but later focused on medal making. When the Philippine Revolution erupted, Zamora took advantage of the situation and made insignias and decorations for the revolutionary forces. During the Insular, and Commonwealth eras, he designed and manufactured medals for the US Army, the Philippine Constabulary (the country's gendarmerie force, who will later form the core of the present-day Armed Forces of the Philippines), and different units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps across the nation.

On the sidelines, he also created plaques with images of noted public figures such as American Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, the King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and the Taisho Emperor of Japan. He conceptualized a design in which the three regional beauties, each representing the three major island groups of the Philippines, looked radiant as the three stars of the Philippine flag; each of their crowns, therefore, was topped with a star. who is historically recognized as the first female sculptor in the Philippines.

The Crispulo Zamora & Sons ' workshop is last addressed at 431 Sales St., Sta. Cruz, Manila, under the management of 3rd-generation descendant, Eduardo "Dan" Zamora. the 18-karat gold scepter of Our Lady of La Naval, Manila (now in Quezon City) (1908) the Quince Martires Monument, Naga City Japanese commemoration medals for their capture of Bataan and Corregidor, commissioned by General Masaharu Homma during World War II (1942); these were believed to be struck over salvaged silver coins that Filipino and American forces threw into Manila Bay, which was ordered by the Japanese to be salvaged. Philippine flag pins in celebration of the Second Philippine Republic (1943) the inaugural coat of arms of the Central Bank of the Philippines (1949) the bronze marker of the Gomburza National Monument, Plaza Roma, Intramuros, Manila (later moved outside Intramuros, near in front of the National Museum of Fine Arts) (1972)