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Lot Essay
The term "enconchado" describes Mexican oil paintings inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl, an Asian-derived medium that emerged in viceregal (colonial) New Spain (Mexico) in the seventeenth century. The modern term derives from the Spanish word for seashell (concha), a material characteristic of these paintings, although not one of the various names inscribed in inventories or descriptions in previous centuries. The mother-of-pearl (nácar) tesserae are inlaid on either a treated wooden panel, or on a canvas-covered one, after which the tempera or oil paint is applied. A yellowish color results from different glazes and varnishes that produce, together with the mother-of-pearl, a distinctive luminosity.
Enconchado painting was a unique art form that blended features from different artistic traditions. Like other inlaid decorative objects imported into New Spain, such as Japanese and Indo-Portuguese furniture or boxes from Gujarat, India, the technique echoed age-old Asian forms, as well as earlier pre-Hispanic practices. But their subject matter, sometimes secular, sometimes religious, expressed a curious amalgam of spiritual devotion, historical or local pride, and imperial propaganda.
Many enconchado paintings were made into series of six, twelve, or even twenty-four, representing the life of the Virgin, the life of Christ, the life of saints, or the conquest of Mexico. Such is the case of this enconchado depicting the Education of the Virgin, a single panel which was probably part of a series when it was first produced in the late seventeenth century. Many of the images were derived from Flemish, Spanish, or Italian prints that served as models for the visual education of the recently converted populations of the New World. Therefore, even though the works were produced in workshops in Mexico City and elsewhere in the viceroyalty, the figures and the architecture reflect Europe's prevailing Baroque style. They were often gifts from the viceroys to the king of Spain or other nobles in the Old World, as attested by contemporary inventories.
The Education of the Virgin is not a common subject matter for any of the known series of the life of the Virgin. However it fits perfectly in the agenda that the government of the viceroyalty was implanting during the time when the indigenous population had begun to surge. Like the scenes of Joseph in the carpentry shop, these scenes attempted to inculcate civil virtues to the newly converted. This panel shows the pious nature of the Virgin flanked by angels in the upper left hand side, while other figures surround the other representation of the Virgin in the center of the panel, where she is seen in a women's quarter receiving instruction from a book. The artist is obviously following a print that shows an architectural stage where the scene takes place, receding in space. The figures are mostly inlaid with mother-of-pearl while the architecture is variously described with decorative accents.
Although there is no signature in this panel, it appears that the technique used and the style can be associated to the most important enconchado workshop of Mexico City, that of Miguel González. Very little is known of this family of enconchado painters except for a document in which a Tomás González de Mier is mentioned as Master in painting of lacquer, a technique often associated with these paintings. Another document mentions that Miguel González was an "official painter of maque" in Mexico City between 1688 and 1689. A painting of a Nativity from 1662 is signed by Juan González, who in the opinion of some scholars can be ascertained to be the uncle of Miguel. In this sense, this family follows in the tradition of other Mexican families of painters such as the Echave, Juárez, or Correa, whose work spanned several generations.
Although the use of mother-of-pearl was known in pre-Hispanic society, the new surge that took place in the seventeenth century for luxury objects that utilized its lustrous accents on the surface of painted panels had much to do with Asian influence and to New Spain's strategic location in Spain's transatlantic trade routes. Spain and Portugal's acquisition of vast overseas empires in the sixteenth century ushered in an era of global exchange that truly revolutionized the economic, social, cultural, and artistic spheres of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, not to mention Europe itself. Thus, the Iberian peninsula's entry onto the world political stage after centuries of internecine wars catapulted newly-formed Portugal and Spain into a network that spanned not only the Atlantic Ocean, but the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well.
Imports from Asia, arriving in the harbor of Acapulco in New Spain, introduced objects from centuries-old traditions in China, Japan, and India, as well as elsewhere in Asia. They enriched the households of the viceroyalty and in time were copied and imitated in New Spain, thus producing a new hybrid version of these Asian arts. Furniture, such as desks inlaid with mother-of-pearl, folding screens (biombos), Chinese blue and white ceramics, Indian and Chinese textiles, porcelains, and ivory sculptures, were some of the items that were brought to Mexico by the Manila Galleon on its way to Europe. A large number of them, however, remained in the New World, some becoming models for the industries. Known in Spanish as the Nao de China, between 1565 and 1815 this yearly trading fleet provided an unrelenting passage of goods from Asia to Europe by way of the New World, creating an economic activity of unparalleled proportions.
Miguel Arisa, Ph.D., art historian
Enconchado painting was a unique art form that blended features from different artistic traditions. Like other inlaid decorative objects imported into New Spain, such as Japanese and Indo-Portuguese furniture or boxes from Gujarat, India, the technique echoed age-old Asian forms, as well as earlier pre-Hispanic practices. But their subject matter, sometimes secular, sometimes religious, expressed a curious amalgam of spiritual devotion, historical or local pride, and imperial propaganda.
Many enconchado paintings were made into series of six, twelve, or even twenty-four, representing the life of the Virgin, the life of Christ, the life of saints, or the conquest of Mexico. Such is the case of this enconchado depicting the Education of the Virgin, a single panel which was probably part of a series when it was first produced in the late seventeenth century. Many of the images were derived from Flemish, Spanish, or Italian prints that served as models for the visual education of the recently converted populations of the New World. Therefore, even though the works were produced in workshops in Mexico City and elsewhere in the viceroyalty, the figures and the architecture reflect Europe's prevailing Baroque style. They were often gifts from the viceroys to the king of Spain or other nobles in the Old World, as attested by contemporary inventories.
The Education of the Virgin is not a common subject matter for any of the known series of the life of the Virgin. However it fits perfectly in the agenda that the government of the viceroyalty was implanting during the time when the indigenous population had begun to surge. Like the scenes of Joseph in the carpentry shop, these scenes attempted to inculcate civil virtues to the newly converted. This panel shows the pious nature of the Virgin flanked by angels in the upper left hand side, while other figures surround the other representation of the Virgin in the center of the panel, where she is seen in a women's quarter receiving instruction from a book. The artist is obviously following a print that shows an architectural stage where the scene takes place, receding in space. The figures are mostly inlaid with mother-of-pearl while the architecture is variously described with decorative accents.
Although there is no signature in this panel, it appears that the technique used and the style can be associated to the most important enconchado workshop of Mexico City, that of Miguel González. Very little is known of this family of enconchado painters except for a document in which a Tomás González de Mier is mentioned as Master in painting of lacquer, a technique often associated with these paintings. Another document mentions that Miguel González was an "official painter of maque" in Mexico City between 1688 and 1689. A painting of a Nativity from 1662 is signed by Juan González, who in the opinion of some scholars can be ascertained to be the uncle of Miguel. In this sense, this family follows in the tradition of other Mexican families of painters such as the Echave, Juárez, or Correa, whose work spanned several generations.
Although the use of mother-of-pearl was known in pre-Hispanic society, the new surge that took place in the seventeenth century for luxury objects that utilized its lustrous accents on the surface of painted panels had much to do with Asian influence and to New Spain's strategic location in Spain's transatlantic trade routes. Spain and Portugal's acquisition of vast overseas empires in the sixteenth century ushered in an era of global exchange that truly revolutionized the economic, social, cultural, and artistic spheres of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, not to mention Europe itself. Thus, the Iberian peninsula's entry onto the world political stage after centuries of internecine wars catapulted newly-formed Portugal and Spain into a network that spanned not only the Atlantic Ocean, but the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well.
Imports from Asia, arriving in the harbor of Acapulco in New Spain, introduced objects from centuries-old traditions in China, Japan, and India, as well as elsewhere in Asia. They enriched the households of the viceroyalty and in time were copied and imitated in New Spain, thus producing a new hybrid version of these Asian arts. Furniture, such as desks inlaid with mother-of-pearl, folding screens (biombos), Chinese blue and white ceramics, Indian and Chinese textiles, porcelains, and ivory sculptures, were some of the items that were brought to Mexico by the Manila Galleon on its way to Europe. A large number of them, however, remained in the New World, some becoming models for the industries. Known in Spanish as the Nao de China, between 1565 and 1815 this yearly trading fleet provided an unrelenting passage of goods from Asia to Europe by way of the New World, creating an economic activity of unparalleled proportions.
Miguel Arisa, Ph.D., art historian