Day 279 - Mexican majolica jars

 




December 31, 2021

Gallery 749 evokes  another "Who knew?" response. The gallery is devoted to painting and other arts of  Mexico from the late 1600s to about 1800.  The paintings of religious subjects that line one of the gallery's walls don't excite me; they look like the works of artists from the hinterlands. But other objects amaze me with their fine craftsmanship. The iron workmanship, exemplified by a pair of stirrups and a pair of spurs dating from 1738 and 1750, respectively, is so elaborate that, despite my many visits to the Arms and Armor galleries, I have absolutely no idea what these objects are; I speculate that the cruciform stirrups housed little shrines and that the spurs were children's toys.  That I'm so far off is humbling. I'm impressed, too, by two lovely groupings of wooden statuettes from Guatemala depicting the Calvary and Mary and Joseph adoring the Christ child.  Made around 1790 and about 2-3 feet high, the statuettes are brilliantly colored and feature lavish use of gilt silver. I'm struck, though not surprised, that in this very Indio country, all the figures are very European-looking.

Today's objects are two  jars of tin-glazed earthenware (majolica), each about 10 inches high, that were made in Puebla. The older of these dates from about 1680-1700; its painted design features swirling vines, stylized flowers, and a cross. The cross makes me wonder if the jar was used for religious functions - for example, to hold sacramental wine - but maybe not.  The second jar was made between about 1750 and 1800; its decoration includes what appear to be grapes, so maybe it actually was used for wine. What I find particularly interesting about the jars is the way they fuse artistic traditions. According to the placard, their shapes and decoration derive from Hispanic and Hispano-Moorish models, while the blue-on-white glazing was inspired by Chinese ceramics. I learn that the latter were brought  to the New World via the Spanish Philippines on ships known as Manila galleons, and from Acapulco they were transported overland to Veracruz and shipped to Spain. 

Also of interest is the history of the Met's Mexican arts collection, discussed in other signage.  The daughter of the Met's first president gave her collection of Mexican ceramics to the museum in 1911. She and her husband, who later became president of the museum himself, hoped to build a unified collection of Mexican work, but this didn't happen:  pieces were acquired piecemeal and placed in different locations  throughout the building, and the Met began to acquire Mexican paintings only in 2014. A placard  announces - with pride tinged with defensiveness, it seems to me - the museum's commitment to strengthening its Mexican holdings.

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