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Collections

Attributed to Pedro Hernández Atenciano
Altar Cross (Cruz de altar)circa 1560

On view:
Geffen Galleries
Gilt metal altar cross with ivory or bone figural reliefs, Gothic arcade base, and lobed foot, decorated overall with foliate ornament and circular medallions
Gilt silver processional cross mounted on an elaborate stem and lobed base, with relief medallions at each arm and center, foliate openwork edging, and a cylindrical knop decorated with figured panels in architectural arcades.
Artist or Maker
Attributed to Pedro Hernández Atenciano
Spain, c. 1510–1584, active Guatemala and Peru
Title
Altar Cross (Cruz de altar)
Place Made
Guatemala, Antigua
Date Made
circa 1560
Medium
Silver gilt, cast and chased
Dimensions
15 1/2 × 7 in. (39.4 × 17.8 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund, the Decorative Arts Deaccession Fund, and Jan and Frederick R. Mayer
Accession Number
M.2006.117a-b
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

This portable altar cross from Guatemala is associated with the Dominicans, one of three religious orders that evangelized the vast territory of Mesoamerica in the 1500s. Their churches were appointed with prescribed silver liturgical objects initially created by artists primarily from Spain. This profusely ornamented cross would have been set on the altar during Mass. On the front, the crucified Christ is placed against a central medallion with the city of Jerusalem and the garden of Gethsemane, the site of his final meditation before his arrest and crucifixion. The arms contain images of the Four Evangelists. On the back, the central medallion shows God the Father blessing, surrounded by four roundels depicting the major prophets of the Old Testament. The elaborate niches on the stem enclose images of the twelve apostles, while the base represents the busts of three Dominican saints: Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, and Albert the Great.

Pedro Hernández Atenciano was a skilled Spanish silversmith who arrived in Guatemala in the mid-sixteenth century. The work’s hallmarks confirm its Guatemalan origin.

Ilona Katzew

2024

Provenance
Paul d’Almeida, Europe, 20th century; by inheritance to his grandchild, Europe; Sotheby’s, London, July 7, 2006, lot 56; LACMA, 2006.
Selected Bibliography
  • Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.
  • Esteras, Cristina. “De México y Guatemala: Nuevas obras para la historia de su platería (siglos XVI y XVII).” In El Dorado: Estudios sobre la plata iberoamericana, siglos XVI–XIX, editd by Jesús Paniagua Pérez, Nuria Salazar Simarro, and Moisés Gámez. 201–17. León, Spain: Universidad de León; Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2012.
Selected Exhibition History
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

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