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19 - Desk or sewing box with inlaid tortoiseshell, bone and wood …

Estimate €7,000 - €9,500
Sale commission
Description
Desk or sewing box with inlaid tortoiseshell, bone and wood with corner pieces and gilded wrought iron. Novo-Hispanic workshop. Mexico. Puebla or Campeche. Late 17th century - early 18th century. This desk belongs to the same group of desks and sewing cabinets as those that can be seen in the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico, with inventory numbers 07317, 10511, 06770, for example, and the small writing chest kept in the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid. With respect to this type of furniture, the article that we cite in the bibliography, published in “Res Mobilis”, is very interesting, in which, among other things, these objects of small format decorated with geometric figures and inlaid wood, tortoiseshell and bone (although these last two materials are not necessarily present) with a unified decorative design are located as being from the city of Puebla. However, it also points out that according to Venezuelan and Spanish historiographic tradition, they are considered to come from the town of Campeche. According to the aforementioned article, in an inventory from Puebla dated 1681, there are pieces described as made in Campeche together with others produced in Puebla, forming a single set of furniture, which demonstrates the similarity of both centers of production. Specifically, the article states: “It is revealing because, on the one hand, it shows the ability to recognize and distinguish (in the city of Puebla) each of these production centers and, on the other, it evidences the compatibility of their products and the taste for combining them”. Both structurally and stylistically, the piece in the auction has all the characteristics that identify it with the type of furniture described, including two-dimensional geometric decoration, consisting of eight-pointed stars, triangles, diamonds and squares. The specimen is beautifully enriched by wrought iron found in the corner pieces and in the keyhole. Some of the examples studied, are identical to this one, and others of lower height, do not have a drawer. Reference bibliography: - Díaz Cayeros, Patricia. (2021). 'Mobiliario novohispano con diseños geométricos: maderas, carey y hueso'. En 'Res Mobilis. Revista internacional de investigación en mobiliario y objetos decorativos'. Vol. 10 (13).
About the sale Dialogues with the Past: Vestigia
Auction location
Auction time 07/02/2026 at 7:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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