Idols of Campeche, Yucatán, and Tabasco in Early Colonial Imagination, 1734

€ 240

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1734
Sheet size: 42 × 26 cm (16.5 × 10.2 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-13806-63

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

This print is in good condition with toning at the edges, minor foxing, and a strong plate impression. The edges of the paper are rough but the image area remains clean and richly detailed. Ready to be framed.

About this sheet

Idols of Campeche, Yucatán and Tabasco, a copperplate engraving from Les Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde, drawn and engraved by Bernard Picart, dated 1734 in the listing. Two scenes appear on one sheet.

The upper scene is lettered "Idoles de Campêche et de Iucatan". A brick-walled platform carries a coiled serpent held inside a cage of upright rods, and beside it a nude male figure raises his arms among winged and horned beasts. The lower scene, "Idoles de Tabasco", shows a hilly landscape where a figure at an altar holds a wild beast and a fire burns near a heap of human bones. At the right a group in tall headdresses and masks tumble around a captive, and dancers appear in the background.

These are imaginary pictures of Native religion built from conquest-period accounts, in the baroque manner of the book. The engraver's signature and the date 1723 appear in the lower left.