Unidentified artist
Sewing or Jewelry Box (Costurero o joyero)last third of the 18th century

Not on view

Rectangular decorative box with hinged lid, surfaces densely inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl pieces in floral and leaf patterns, framed by geometric borders on dark wood ground, resting on six turned bun feet

Rectangular wooden casket on four bun feet, densely inlaid with mother-of-pearl panels forming large floral rosette patterns on the sides and lid, with tortoiseshell and dark wood geometric border bands.

Rectangular tray with dense mother-of-pearl inlay on a dark tortoiseshell ground; central panel features a large rosette composed of overlapping petal-shaped pieces, surrounded by a border of interlocking arabesque motifs.

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artist
Title: Sewing or Jewelry Box (Costurero o joyero)
Place Made: Guatemala (for export market, possibly Peru)
Date Made: last third of the 18th century
Medium: Wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and silver
Dimensions: 5 1/2 × 17 5/16 × 13 3/4 in. (14 × 44 × 35 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2019.264.1
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: A mesmerizing pattern of floral motifs in shimmering, opalescent shell fragments envelops all surfaces of this sewing box. In Lima, intricately decorated boxes like this one and matching side tables (M.2019.264.2a–b) were displayed in the salón de estrado (sitting room or parlor), a domestic space for women. The parlor served as a gathering or private place for the ladies of the house and their guests, who reclined on pillows and tapestries instead of sitting on chairs.

Because of their materials and their designs that vaguely resemble Asian decorative arts, these works have been difficult to categorize. Scholars have suggested that they were imported aboard the famous Spanish trading ships—known as the Manila Galleons—that traveled annually between the Philippines and Mexico. But archival and material documentation suggests that such works originated in Guatemala, where mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell were harvested locally and considered prized commodities. Many items made of these materials were exported to Mexico and Peru. The designs draw on a range of European and Asian sources, which local artists creatively reinterpreted.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Alberto Idoyaga Molina, Buenos Aires, first half of the 20th century; by inheritance to his son Alfonso Idoyaga Molina, London, c. 1994; Jaime Eguiguren Art & Antiques, Buenos Aires, c. 2000; LACMA, 2019.
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.
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

Related Exhibitions

Related Unframed

Unidentified artist
Sewing or Jewelry Box (Costurero o joyero)last third of the 18th century

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artist
Title: Sewing or Jewelry Box (Costurero o joyero)
Place Made: Guatemala (for export market, possibly Peru)
Date Made: last third of the 18th century
Medium: Wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and silver
Dimensions: 5 1/2 × 17 5/16 × 13 3/4 in. (14 × 44 × 35 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2019.264.1
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: A mesmerizing pattern of floral motifs in shimmering, opalescent shell fragments envelops all surfaces of this sewing box. In Lima, intricately decorated boxes like this one and matching side tables (M.2019.264.2a–b) were displayed in the salón de estrado (sitting room or parlor), a domestic space for women. The parlor served as a gathering or private place for the ladies of the house and their guests, who reclined on pillows and tapestries instead of sitting on chairs.

Because of their materials and their designs that vaguely resemble Asian decorative arts, these works have been difficult to categorize. Scholars have suggested that they were imported aboard the famous Spanish trading ships—known as the Manila Galleons—that traveled annually between the Philippines and Mexico. But archival and material documentation suggests that such works originated in Guatemala, where mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell were harvested locally and considered prized commodities. Many items made of these materials were exported to Mexico and Peru. The designs draw on a range of European and Asian sources, which local artists creatively reinterpreted.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Alberto Idoyaga Molina, Buenos Aires, first half of the 20th century; by inheritance to his son Alfonso Idoyaga Molina, London, c. 1994; Jaime Eguiguren Art & Antiques, Buenos Aires, c. 2000; LACMA, 2019.
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.
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

Related Exhibitions

Related Unframed

Special Things: Boxes in Spanish America

July 20, 2022
Ilona Katzew