Lot n° 96
Estimation :
8000 - 10000
EUR
Small silver triptych with a three-lobed... - Lot 96 - Coutau-Bégarie
Small silver triptych with a three-lobed upper part, enclosing scenes in wood carved in clerestory on a background of feathers. The Crucifixion is depicted in the center, the Prayer in Gethsemane and the Arrest of Christ on the left side, and the Carrying of the Cross and the Coronation of Thorns on the right side.
Mexico circa 1540
H. 5.4 cm - W. open: 6.2 cm - W. closed: 3.2 cm
(missing feathers and hands of St. John)
This triptych can be related to a body of work that is now well studied. One is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv n° 226-1866), another in the British Museum (1889.0507.7), another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (10.141.2) and one sold at the sale of the Flannery collection in 1983 (lot 385). Finally, one is in the Wyvern collection (inv 2521) but in a later frame. All are now attributed to Mexican workshops because of the use of hummingbird feathers to animate the background. In addition, the wood used has been studied. The wood of the triptych in the Victoria and Albert Museum has been identified as zomantle or colorin wood or perhaps pochote thorn, species native to Mexico.
Probably at the instigation of the Franciscans or Dominicans and under Spanish rule, indigenous woodcarvers and featherworkers were employed to make these small sculptures enclosed in a featherback frame. They were clearly inspired by European woodcuts and small boxwood sculptures made in the Netherlands in the first half of the sixteenth century.
The tradition of the "Amentecas", the feather makers of the Aztec kingdoms, was taken over by the Spanish in the second third of the 16th century. From the feathers of different species of birds are made inlaid paintings with multicolored reflections or liturgical objects such as mitres or elements of chasuble. These extremely rare works were present in princely and royal collections, and enriched the treasures with their otherworldly brilliance. A mitre and its two dewlaps are preserved in the Medici collection at the Palazzo Pitti (Inv A.S.E.1911, n.185), and the inventory after the death of Rudolf II indicates that this prince possessed "nine paintings of feathers from India".
This small triptych, whether a commission or a diplomatic gift, found its place in a prestigious collection in its time. Moreover, it bears witness to the close syncretism between the ancestral know-how of the Aztecs and European Christian iconography.
Book consulted: Paul Williamson, Medieval and Renaissance Enamels and Other Works of Art, The Wyvern collection, London, 2021 pp 442-443
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