San Nicolás

During the second half of the seventeenth-century and the first half of the eighteenth, a new type of painting devoted to the illustration of saintly figures such as The Virgin of Guadalupe and historical events such as the Conquest of Mexico, flourished in Spain’s vast Mexican territories of Nueva España. Known as enconchados, these exquisite objects of luxury became part of various private and public collections both in Mexico and Europe for centuries. The enconchado technique which employed the use of mother-of-pearl, abalone or other shell, onto wood panels or lienzos; Chinese ink to describe space or volume; and a yellowish varnish to create a glowing finish, points to practices in the decorative arts of China and Japan such as lacquerware. However, the enconchado, developed in Mexico due to the vast trade between Mexico and its colonial outpost in The Philippines via the Manila Galleon which thrived between the years 1564 to 1699. According to Mexican scholar Gustavo Antonio Curiel Méndez, a special predilection for luxurious objects coming from Asia, “el lujo oriental,” enthralled seventeenth and eighteenth-century Mexican society. [1] The considerable commerce of sumptuous commodities, such as silks, embroideries, porcelain, ivories, among others, made Manila and Acapulco the first global cities. It also encouraged the migration of peoples to the New World such as merchants, skilled workers, and talented craftsmen. Although many of the enconchados appear to be anonymous, others have been attributed to known masters who established notable workshops such as the González family renowned for their beautifully crafted paintings and frames eagerly sought after by elite colonial families. [2]

The brilliantly fashioned enconchados were primarily desired for private contemplation; for the pious, in addition to the Virgin Mary, numerous saints were favored. The images offered by the various painters were detailed in pictorial compositions that chronicled the biographical particulars of the saintly personages and, most importantly, the miracles attributed to them. The incrustation of the iridescent shell material as well as the lustrous finish of the varnish, endowed the works with the power to transform the devotional practice into a transcendental experience as it was displayed amidst the flickering candlelight of the domestic setting. While images of the Passion of Christ which proliferated during the late Middle Ages in Europe with horrific details of his suffering for mankind had sustained the faith of the devout allowing them to share in and even experience the agony of Christ’s sacrifice, the dazzling enconchado, instead, provided an otherworldly connection to the sainted figure who inhabited a heavenly realm and could deliver comfort, advise and hope on matters spiritual or otherwise.

This present enconchado depicts a sculpture which nevertheless functions as the figure of Saint Nicolas, of Myra in Turkey and also of Bari in Italy, known as The Wonderworker due to the many miracles ascribed to him. Born into a wealthy family in Asia Minor in the city of Patara in or around 280 AD, the holy man was known for his piety from a young age. Although a bishop, Saint Nicolas does not wear his mitre but is shown with a halo denoting his godliness; he also wears the omophorion or the white shawl with the cross—a symbol of his religious authority. Several events in the saint’s life are illustrated such as the heavenly episodes with Christ on the upper left, who hands him the book of Gospels and the Virgin on the upper right, who offers the saint his symbol of authority. The holy bishop holds the book of Gospels with three golden spheres which allude to the miracle of the bags of gold he threw down the chimney of three young women in order to provide them a dowry and thus save them from a dishonorable life; and the barrel in which three unclothed children who have been brought back from death are depicted, describing yet another miracle. The young man who holds a silver pitcher refers to the miraculous flowing of fragrant holy water which, supposedly emanated from the saint’s crypt in the basilica in the city of Bari where his relics were transferred in 1087. [3] The cult of Saint Nicolas has enjoyed great popularity through the ages as his legendary life is formidable and indeed mythic. He is venerated by sailors, those who sail the seas, and of course children at Christmas time.

The painted frame which accompanies this enconchado compliments the image while emphasizing the sacredness of the scene and echoes the use of floral motifs such as garlands to enclose the Virgin, the Holy Child or the Eucharist prevalent in Flemish Baroque art. Moreover, the frame reveals the artist’s superb skills in illustrating the beauty of God’s natural world in the delicate roses and tulips which so deftly adorn and honor the image of the saint.

Margarita Aguilar, Doctoral Candidate, The Graduate Center, New York.

1) D. Oropesa Keresey, Doctoral Thesis, Los “indios chinos” en la Nueva España: la inmigración de la nao de China, 1565-1700, El Colegio de México, A. C., Centro de Estudios Históricos, 2007, 164.
2) D. Pierce; R. Ruiz Gomar; C. Bargellini; Denver Art Museum; Frederick and Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art. Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521-1821, Denver, Colo.: Denver Art Museum; Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2004, 189.
3) C. Erskine Clement, Saints in Art, Snova: New York, 2004, 70.