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Lot Essay
According to various scholars, this pair of panels is perhaps the only extant example of enconchado painting produced in Colonial Peru. Derived from the Spanish word for seashell (concha), enconchado is a modern term used to describe the predominantly Mexican seventeenth-century tradition of inlaying oil paintings with mother-of-pearl, resulting in strikingly luminous works. Inspired by Asian decorative objects brought to the New World by Spanish trading ships beginning in the sixteenth century, enconchados are a remarkable early example of globalization in art.
From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the Manila Galleon, a Spanish trading fleet, sailed from Manila (then controlled by Spain) carrying furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl, folding screens (biombos), porcelain, lacquerware and other luxury goods to ports in New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru in exchange for silver and other precious metals. These Asian imports found their way into the homes of the Colonial elite where they were admired and coveted by those privileged enough to see them. Eventually these popular objects were transformed by local artists to suit the tastes of the New World, leading to the development of enconchado painting.
Enconchado painting fused the Asian inlay technique with subject matter that reflected the New World's desire for Christian iconography and secular imagery that expressed national or local interests. In the present pair of enconchados, each panel depicts an apocryphal Christian story in which a young man gives of himself to help those in dire need. In the legend of Saint George and the Dragon, a young George confronts a terrifying dragon in order to save a princess and return peace to a terrified village. The enconchado represents the climactic moment: George has stabbed the beast with his spear, which the artist has playfully shown passing through the mouth of the dragon and into its clenched paws. In the other panel, the artist illustrates the moment in which Martin, an eighteen-year-old Roman legionary, divides his cloak to share with a man in need.
Enconchados portraying the lives of saints, Christ or the Virgin were often based on European prints brought to the New World to encourage the spread of Christianity. Although no specific print has been found to be the model for the present pair, the panel of St. George bears a striking resemblance to a detail from the fifteenth-century Altarpiece of St. George now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 1). Commissioned for a cathedral in Valencia, the actual altarpiece was likely not the original source for the painter of these enconchados, however, a printed illustration of the work could have served as a model.
While enconchado painting continued into the eighteenth century, its Golden Age occurred in Mexico City in the latter half of the seventeenth century. There the foremost enconchado workshop flourished under the direction of Miguel González. Executed in 1672, the present pair of enconchados is from this same successful period of the González workshop. As their inscriptions indicate, these panels were commissioned and donated by the Viceroy Conde de Lemos and Bishop of Huamanga (present day Ayacucho, Peru) for the consecration of the city's cathedral in 1672. Although the pair could not have been produced by the González workshop given the Peruvian origin, the artist who created them was clearly just as skilled at melding the prized Asian inlay technique with Christian iconography popular in the New World. An important recent discovery, the pair beautifully expresses the vibrant fusion of cultures that thrived in the New World and gave rise to this singular art form.
(Fig. 1) Marzal de Sax (or Sas). St. George Killing the Dragon. Panel from the St. George Altarpiece. Spain (Valencia), c.1410-1420. Tempera and gilt on pine panel. Inv.: 1217-1864. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain. Photo Credit: V&A Images, London Art Resource, NY.
From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the Manila Galleon, a Spanish trading fleet, sailed from Manila (then controlled by Spain) carrying furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl, folding screens (biombos), porcelain, lacquerware and other luxury goods to ports in New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru in exchange for silver and other precious metals. These Asian imports found their way into the homes of the Colonial elite where they were admired and coveted by those privileged enough to see them. Eventually these popular objects were transformed by local artists to suit the tastes of the New World, leading to the development of enconchado painting.
Enconchado painting fused the Asian inlay technique with subject matter that reflected the New World's desire for Christian iconography and secular imagery that expressed national or local interests. In the present pair of enconchados, each panel depicts an apocryphal Christian story in which a young man gives of himself to help those in dire need. In the legend of Saint George and the Dragon, a young George confronts a terrifying dragon in order to save a princess and return peace to a terrified village. The enconchado represents the climactic moment: George has stabbed the beast with his spear, which the artist has playfully shown passing through the mouth of the dragon and into its clenched paws. In the other panel, the artist illustrates the moment in which Martin, an eighteen-year-old Roman legionary, divides his cloak to share with a man in need.
Enconchados portraying the lives of saints, Christ or the Virgin were often based on European prints brought to the New World to encourage the spread of Christianity. Although no specific print has been found to be the model for the present pair, the panel of St. George bears a striking resemblance to a detail from the fifteenth-century Altarpiece of St. George now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 1). Commissioned for a cathedral in Valencia, the actual altarpiece was likely not the original source for the painter of these enconchados, however, a printed illustration of the work could have served as a model.
While enconchado painting continued into the eighteenth century, its Golden Age occurred in Mexico City in the latter half of the seventeenth century. There the foremost enconchado workshop flourished under the direction of Miguel González. Executed in 1672, the present pair of enconchados is from this same successful period of the González workshop. As their inscriptions indicate, these panels were commissioned and donated by the Viceroy Conde de Lemos and Bishop of Huamanga (present day Ayacucho, Peru) for the consecration of the city's cathedral in 1672. Although the pair could not have been produced by the González workshop given the Peruvian origin, the artist who created them was clearly just as skilled at melding the prized Asian inlay technique with Christian iconography popular in the New World. An important recent discovery, the pair beautifully expresses the vibrant fusion of cultures that thrived in the New World and gave rise to this singular art form.
(Fig. 1) Marzal de Sax (or Sas). St. George Killing the Dragon. Panel from the St. George Altarpiece. Spain (Valencia), c.1410-1420. Tempera and gilt on pine panel. Inv.: 1217-1864. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain. Photo Credit: V&A Images, London Art Resource, NY.