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This image is for study only, and may not accurately represent the object’s true color or scale…
Wood chest
This image is for study only, and may not accurately represent the object’s true color or scale…
This image is for study only, and may not accurately represent the object’s true color or scale. It should not be shared or reproduced without permission by the copyright holder.

Wood chest

Place MadeSouth America
NationalityColombian, South American
Place MadeColombia, South America
Date18th century
MediumWood with bone inlay
DimensionsOverall: 20 3/8 × 38 × 17 1/4 in. (51.8 × 96.5 × 43.8 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Judy S. and Charles W. Tate, 2016
Rights Statement
Collection AreaLatin American Art
Object number2016.89
On View
On view
Locations
  • exhibition  BMA, Gallery, A13 - Glickman Galleries
Label Text
This chest was intended to store garments or linens. The inlaid woodwork used for its decoration is distinct from marquetry in that there is no veneer. Inlaid means a thicker piece of wood is carved and filled with a contrasting-colored material—bone and white platuquero wood, in this case. Because of the lily-shaped figures and lighter circles, this chest was probably made in Quito, the modern-day capital of Ecuador. Documents show that in that city, Indigenous master carpenters constructed churches and homes with vaulted ceilings embellished in paneling. This third woodworking technique, known in Spanish as artesonado, widely spread throughout Ibero-America, one of the many inheritances from the Islamic culture that flourished in the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492.