Console in Polychrome Carved Wood-17th Century-Spain

Elegant carved wall console in wood with acanthus leaf decoration from the 18th century Very beautiful patina and in very good condition Note: the upper part has been redone with a...

Lovely console with original polychromy in burgundy and silver from the 18th century from Italy Louis XV style Very beautiful molded and carved console with a very beautiful sculp...

niche in gilded wood from the 17th century from Italy Lovely niche with a carved wood in its center from the Italian Renaissance Beautiful original gild wood Dimensions excluding ba...

Lovely Austrian child's chair decorated with flowers and birds from the end of the 18th century beginning of the 19th century circa 1800. Very beautiful original polychromy. The ...

Niche. Carved and polychrome wood. Century XVI. Wall niche with a rectangular front opening topped by a venerated shape finished in gold with two polychrome angel heads in the corne...

Spanish, 18th century or earlier. An 18th century Spanish bargueno or vargueno traveling desk, used for storing documents, jewels, or sewing box. The six drawer chest is inset with ...

An Italian urn carved-wood fragment with it's original finish from the 19th century. This elegant antique urn fragment from Italy has been carved with a roped upper lip, and a leaf and scallop carved motif with egg and dart trim adorning rings about it's shapely body. This piece retains it's original finish and gilt, which has a nicely aged patina and lovely areas of cracking; a reflection of it's age. Please note that the backside of this 19th century Italian urn...

MUSEUM PERFECTION ! AZTEC INFLUENCED LATIN AMERICAN COLONIAL ART AMAZINGLY RARE PIECE ! Approx. 14" x 8" x 2 1/2" After Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec empire, painting and sculpture schools were set up within missions to produce art for Roman Catholic worship in Spanish America to promote Christian evangelization. The works that emerge from this period are great historic treasures and tell us much about this time in history. Icons were important in this conversion process. Here is an Imagene that was likely employed in a church from the 17th century. It features 5 elaborately carved faces and figures depicting angels and saints. This piece is magnificent for many reasons, but the most important reason is that this piece illustrates the bridge between the Spanish and Aztec art schools. The Aztecs had developed the most splendid feather art in the world. Feather mosaics (arte plumario in Spanish, amantecayotl in Nahuatl), were created by specially trained and talented Aztec nobles. The blue green iridescent color of hummingbird feathers had made them a regular form of tribute to Aztec rulers and art that featured these feathers were incomparable. The Spanish art instructors adopted feathers into traditional Catholic imagery and this piece shows the result of such hybrid. Here feathers are prominently sculpted into the background and were polychromed with sensational hues to reflect the native love and cultural appreciation for feather art. Few feather mosaics survive because of their temporal frailty, but the wood worked feathers in this piece give scholars and collectors a lasting indication of how Aztecs stylistically used the feathers in their pieces. Aztec religious leaders wore headdresses and garments made of feathers - and here these saints appear to be wearing feather headdresses! Even after centuries, the colors of this piece are incredibly compelling. Fragments of the rich blue green pigment that was applied to mimic the hummingbird feathers are still present. The golds, yellows and browns display spectacular understanding of complementary colors. What's more this piece also shows Aztec sun imagery incorporated into the design! On the reverse side of the Saints' faces we see a vivid blue sun burst type design which clearly was an Aztec motif of the period and has no comparable counterpart in Catholic holy treasures...