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213
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New Spain (Mexico), late 16th-early 17th century
After a dra…
See original version (French)
213
-
New Spain (Mexico), late 16th-early 17th century
After a dra…
See original version (French)
Estimate €40,000 - €60,000
Voluntary lot
Description
New Spain (Mexico), late 16th-early 17th century
After a drawing by Martin de Voos (Flemish, 1532-1603) engraved by Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553-1619)
Saint Ambrose
Feather mosaic.
A sheet of amate paper is placed on a hammered copper plate. A sheet of cotton covers it, to which the feathers and gilded paper are attached using animal glue.
The multicoloured feathers come from the tzanal (starling), kingfisher, aztatl (white egret), and various parrots from the tropical forests of Chiapas in Mexico and Guatemala (the cochohuitl).
Height 42.5 Width 29 cm.
Visible damage to the feathers due to use, no particular restorations.
In an antique moulded and blackened wooden frame with bubble glass. 57.5 x 44.5 cm.
Provenance: former collection of a château in Auvergne; private collection, London-Mexico.
Late 16th-early 17th c. Mexican feather painting of St. Ambrose after a drawing in the Louvre's collections.
When they arrived in Mexico in 1523, the Franciscan Friars Minor were the first to establish a dialogue between the cultures of the Old and New Worlds. They adapted the Christian message to their audience and made Catholic rites accessible to the indigenous mentality. Made using the centuries-old technique of feather mosaics employed by the "amantecas" craftsmen, it incorporates the composition of European works for evangelising purposes. Aztec featherwork became the messenger of the Catholic faith through the translation of sacred images. In the pre-Columbian world, where there were one hundred and twenty-five types of bird, feathers had symbolic and magical virtues. The border of this painting also incorporates local plant imagery, with the broad palms appearing to be those of the "Zamiaceae".
At the time of the Council of Trent in 1563, the didactic scope of images was affirmed, making them the preferred tools for evangelisation. The saints and their hagiographies became sources of teaching for the peoples of New Spain. Wearing his mitre, reading the Holy Scriptures and immersed in an architectural setting, this Saint Ambrose is reminiscent of the depiction engraved by Hieronymus Wierix, taken from the suite of the Four Fathers of the Church published in 1586. This engraving is based on a drawing by Martin de Vos in the Musée du Louvre in Paris (INV 20568). Alongside Saints Augustine, Jerome and Gregory the Great, the Bishop of Milan is presented as one of the four Latin Fathers of the Western Church. A swarm of bees that enveloped him as a child, leaving his face covered in honey and heralding his future eloquence, is evoked by a beehive at his feet. Ambrose had an exceptional influence on the development of the Catholic faith in the early days of the Church. Although he renounced all his material possessions, he was particularly renowned for his preaching, his study of sacred texts and the introduction of Holy Reading.
This image is part of the production dated between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries. During this period, mosaics were glued onto a copper plate rather than wood, and gold rings were used to highlight the contours of the elements in the composition. It wasn't until the 18th century that paint was used alongside feathers to depict anatomical details.
From the former collections of a château in Auvergne, this large, previously unpublished mosaic completes the corpus estimated at between 160 and 180 works. Its provenance demonstrates that cultural transfers also took place from America to Europe, where connoisseurs such as Charles V and Pope Sixtus V collected them.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Lot description modified on 05/20/2026 at 11:14 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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