A 17th Century Mexican Vice-regal Casket

A 17th Century Mexican Vice-regal Casket.

Villa Alta, Oaxaca, second half of 17th Century.

Of linaloe, granadillo and cedar. An oblong casket, with an arched lid, ornamented with engraved decoration and with iron lock, hasp and hinges. The zumaque-filled engraving, which imitates inlay, depicting a man and a richly-dressed lady flanked by two stylsed trees, the rear with a hunter and stag, the sides with a woman and a man each carrying and harvesting produce, within geometric borders, raised on turned bun feet. The interior lined with figured red velvet.

This casket takes the traditional form of a Spanish domed ‘arqueta’ (chest), which was popular within Spain and its colonies from the 16th until the 18th century. Such caskets usually held esteemed and valuable personal effects. In the early 16th century, the Spanish Conquest of Mexico during the reign of King Charles V of Spain brought a vice-regal and military presence to what was then referred to as “New Spain”. Beginning in 1521 and lasting three hundred years, the period led to a blending of cultures that produced a wide variety of goods. On this casket, the decoration is of secular subjects and includes native and European species of flora and fauna. Such coffers derive from “German boxes” which were decorated with inlaid bone, horn, ivory or woods, made in Augsburg or Nuremburg, and were admired and exported across Europe. The intricate ironwork on this piece indicates its luxury status and was probably created in Oaxaca.

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