Eighteenth-Century Art Worlds by Michael Yonan;Stacey Sloboda;

Author:Michael Yonan;Stacey Sloboda;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781501335495
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2018-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 8.2 Bureau, Spain or Spanish Empire, 17th century. Wood, bronze, and tortoiseshell inlay, with forged iron handles and pulls. Museo Nacional de Cerámica y Artes Suntuarias “González Martí,” Valencia (Inv. No. CE3/01171).

Although the patron of this piece is not known, iconography featuring Hercules had been associated with the Habsburg Spanish monarchy since Charles V in the sixteenth century.36 As “Hercules Hispanicus,” Hercules represented triumph over discord, a common theme in the politically tumultuous period, as well as virtue and strength. A pediment with a golden eagle crowns this central unit, with a niche enclosing a statuette of Minerva, goddess of war, wisdom, and the arts. The sides of the escritorio are fashioned of geometric marquetry based on mudéjar patterns, and thus typical of woodwork in Spain and throughout the Americas.37 Its tonality is limited to brown and brownish-red, a direct result of the maker’s choice of wood, bronze, and tortoiseshell. As a result, the various materials employed become hard to distinguish from one another. Given how precious tortoiseshell was, one might expect it to be foregrounded. Instead, it loses its individual identity as a material, becoming integrated or even subsumed into the larger whole to create a unified piece of furniture.

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