Forms and Expressions of the Baroque Silverwork of Puebla: Decorative Repertoire, Techniques and Typology

Abstract

In eighteenth century New Spain the city of Puebla de los Ángeles was in a center of artistic production second in importance only to Mexico City. It was here that the silversmith’s art reached an extraordinary peak of development and a specific identity of its own. The considerable dispersion of articles and the limited number of them so far located creates difficulties for the carrying out an overall study; nevertheless, this article offers a contribution to the work of systematizing, defining, and differentiating their most characteristic formal, technical and typological features. It thus intends to facilitate comparison with the production of other parts of New Spain—particularly that of the capital—and the study of reciprocal influences and relations with other fine and applied arts. With the aim also of helping in the task of describing and identifying new finds, the article analyzes the decorative language employed, along with the most representative religious and civil typologies (monstrances of figured stem, chalices, cruets, lamps, chandeliers, table and toilet-services).