Broad views at Viceregal and 19th century Art

The figure of the Virgin Mary is standing with her left hand on her chest and her right hand at her side. It should be noted that her right arm, together with the hand that is separated from the body, are carved in a separate, added piece of ivory. In a very general sense this Virgin is inspired by similar works in ivory that were mainly made in France during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

This octagonal canvas (eight sides) is a family moment in the life of Mary breastfeeding her Son, but by placing the characters in the sky, the Virgin sitting on a crescent moon, the painter moves the intimate action to a celestial sphere, making it a holy action.  

This sculptural piece shows as an attribute the book that the four evangelists and writers of the epistles bear in their representations, which leads one to suppose based on the hagiography and iconography of these personages that it could be the image of the Saint Paul the Apostle.  With his left arm at the height of his hip, the apostle holds an open book with his hand in whose pages there is no inscription whatsoever. His right arm is raised to the height of his chest, while the position of his hand and the open fist indicate that he was holding the instrument of his martyrdom.

All indications suggest that this leather chest is a Peruvian work. During this vice-royalty, leather-covered furniture of great importance was crafted is awaiting study. This chest was made in the 18th Century. It should be noted that at some point, the top scene on the lid was intentionally censored, since it must have contained a passage from classical mythology passage featuring nudes. On the front of the chest there are two additional scenes, the one on the left possibly depicts the abduction of Helen by Paris, who leaves a breast exposed during the struggle.  

For decorative effect, the bouquets, vases or fleurons appear from the start of the new Spanish baroque in liturgic furniture and the adornment of the altar as a complement to facades, lecterns, large candlesticks, sacred works and altar crosses.

  A pair of burners fixed to their corresponding protection plates. On three foliaceous clamp legs in the shape of opposing folds, the container for hot coal assumes a half-orange configuration with a protruding and staggered edge, scalloped on the edge. According to Cristina Esteras, perfuming rooms with these small braziers or table burners for burning aromatic substances became customary in Mexico and Guatemala following the Hispanic tradition in the 1760s.         

Table brazier, without plate, on three legs in cast and chiseled silver. This tripod brazier model without embellishments became fashionable among Mexican silversmiths in the 1760s. Compared to known models, this type of fantastic support, instead of the usual clawed or brace feet, is the element that affords such originality to the piece.

As L. Arbeteta points out, the reliquary lockets and devotional medallions and plaques, as well as crucifixes, were favored by the devout in Spain and, by extension, in the Spanish Indies. The one shown here, that seems to be more ancient, has two miniatures with Saint Michael, accompanied by his nickname on one side, and on the other side the iconography of the Five lords, with Christ on his throne as sovereign of the universe, between the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, and Saint Joachim and Saint Anne on the lower step.