LOT 0368

Mexican Gold Mounted Wooden Cross with Saint Joseph

CIRCA 1600 A.D.

3 1/8 in. (50.7 grams, 81 mm).

The wooden cross set behind glass panels set within a large gold mount, the cross carved to one side with Saint Joseph holding the Christ child, beneath the Dove of the Holy Spirit, flanked by angels and above the praying Virgin; the other side with the crucified Christ, flanked on three sides by angels and above a Nun Saint.

Acquired on the European art market.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13345-257977.

Cf. a 16th-century gold and enamel tabernacle form jewel in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 17.190.886; see also a silver-mounted portable altarpiece, triptych pendant, dated to circa 1500-1600 in the collection of the British Museum, London, museum no.1889,0507.7; see also an 18th-century pendant in a private collection, published in Egan, M.J., Relicarios The Forgotten Jewels of Latin America, University of New Mexico, 2020.

The tradition of carving tiny devotional wooden reliefs for pendants began in the 16th century and continued throughout the 17th and 18th centuries in Mexico. The carvings were often sent to Spain, where they were mounted in pendants of silver and gold. Relicarios, The Forgotten Jewels of Latin America, by Martha J. Egan: ‘When ivory became difficult to obtain in Europe during the Middle Ages, following the Ottoman conquest of North Africa, European sculptors of miniature works, notably in the Netherlands and northern Europe, found boxwood to be a serviceable substitute. While only items of limited size can be carved in this hard, fine-grained wood, it can be highly polished, its light color is attractive, its density renders it unlikely to split or chip, and when finished, the carved material can resemble ivory.'