Attributed to Workshop of Manuel José de Mena Cárdenas
Set of Ecclesiastical Vestments: Lectern Hanging (Partes de un terno eclesiástico: Paño de atril)circa 1730

Not on view

Embroidered textile panel with scalloped lower edge, gold metallic ground, large silk floral sprays in pink, coral, and blue, and a central cartouche enclosing a lamb on a boat

Embroidered textile panel with goldwork and silk thread; a haloed lamb resting on a book within an ornate Baroque cartouche of gilt acanthus scrollwork, a small bird at its back; pink, blue, and white flowers at the corners on a cream ground.

Silk and metallic thread embroidery on a gold ground, featuring a large peony in pink, coral, and deep red at center-left, with teal and yellow-green leaves, a smaller blue and white flower at upper right, and gilt acanthus scrollwork along the right edge.

Artist or Maker: Attributed to Workshop of Manuel José de Mena Cárdenas
Mexico, 1711-1752
Title: Set of Ecclesiastical Vestments: Lectern Hanging (Partes de un terno eclesiástico: Paño de atril)
Place Made: Mexico
Date Made: circa 1730
Medium: Silk, metallic-thread, and lamella embroidery
Dimensions: 17 1/4 × 31 1/4 in. (43.82 × 79.38 cm)
Credit Line: Costume Council Fund
Accession Number: M.85.96.2
Classification: Textiles
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: Embroidered for Catholic priests, vestments were among the most resplendent art forms of eighteenth-century Mexico. These garments were created as sets in guild workshops led by master craftsmen, as well as by nuns in convents. The quality of the embroidery, alongside the abundant use of silk and gold, reveals the enormous resources invested in their production. Based on designs from Europe and constructed using silk and metallic threads imported from China and Spain, these elaborate vestments embody the intersection of cultures made possible by global trade networks. LACMA’s fine grouping—which includes this lectern hanging, plus a chasuable (M.85.96.1), two stoles (M.85.96.3.4), two collars (M.85.96.5, M.85.96.3.6), a cope (M.85.96.3.7), and two dalmatics (M.85.96.3.8, M.85.96.3.9)—bears a striking resemblance to a set preserved in the Puebla Cathedral by the Spanish master embroiderer Manuel José de Mena Cárdenas, which, according to extant documentation, was completed by one Ana Bárbara Quijano (probably of Indigenous or mestizo background) upon his death.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Virginia Araciga, c. 1983; Loewi-Robertson Inc., Los Angeles, 1983; LACMA, 1985.
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.

Attributed to Workshop of Manuel José de Mena Cárdenas
Set of Ecclesiastical Vestments: Lectern Hanging (Partes de un terno eclesiástico: Paño de atril)circa 1730

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Attributed to Workshop of Manuel José de Mena Cárdenas
Mexico, 1711-1752
Title: Set of Ecclesiastical Vestments: Lectern Hanging (Partes de un terno eclesiástico: Paño de atril)
Place Made: Mexico
Date Made: circa 1730
Medium: Silk, metallic-thread, and lamella embroidery
Dimensions: 17 1/4 × 31 1/4 in. (43.82 × 79.38 cm)
Credit Line: Costume Council Fund
Accession Number: M.85.96.2
Classification: Textiles
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: Embroidered for Catholic priests, vestments were among the most resplendent art forms of eighteenth-century Mexico. These garments were created as sets in guild workshops led by master craftsmen, as well as by nuns in convents. The quality of the embroidery, alongside the abundant use of silk and gold, reveals the enormous resources invested in their production. Based on designs from Europe and constructed using silk and metallic threads imported from China and Spain, these elaborate vestments embody the intersection of cultures made possible by global trade networks. LACMA’s fine grouping—which includes this lectern hanging, plus a chasuable (M.85.96.1), two stoles (M.85.96.3.4), two collars (M.85.96.5, M.85.96.3.6), a cope (M.85.96.3.7), and two dalmatics (M.85.96.3.8, M.85.96.3.9)—bears a striking resemblance to a set preserved in the Puebla Cathedral by the Spanish master embroiderer Manuel José de Mena Cárdenas, which, according to extant documentation, was completed by one Ana Bárbara Quijano (probably of Indigenous or mestizo background) upon his death.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Virginia Araciga, c. 1983; Loewi-Robertson Inc., Los Angeles, 1983; LACMA, 1985.
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.