Three Studies of Luxury Mexican Lacquer Objects from the 16th to the 19th Centuries, Analysis of Materials and Pictorial Techniques

Abstract

This technical study of three Mexican lacquer objects, dating from the 16th, 18th and 19th centuries, analyses different lacquer manufacturing processes and their local characteristics through the centuries. The technical analysis of each object highlights their material and technological innovation. In addition, we describe individual stylistic characteristics of Mexican lacquer production centres, Peribán and Olinalá. Finally, we conclude with a few observations about the taste for Asian lacquer in the West, and how this impacted lacquer crafts around the world.

1. Introduction

It is well known that Mexican lacquer or maque as a decorative technique for luxury objects during the Mexican viceregal period has its roots in preceding traditions, specifically in the Mesoamerican pre-Hispanic world [1]. Added to this is the synergic and progressive incorporation of different influences from Eastern and Western decorative arts; a fact that shapes a rich technical craft that evolved over time, incorporating material and technical innovations revealing a wide range of styles and regional “schools” and production procedures [2,3,4,5,6].

This study focuses on the technical analysis of three objects representative of this wide range of styles and techniques:

The first is a decorated chest in the so-called Peribán style (from the state of Michoacán), which for iconographic reasons can be considered one of the earliest examples of this technique, perhaps made in the third or last quarter of the 16th century. The object has been made using the traditional inlay technique, a direct heir to the decoration of pre-Hispanic jícaras and guajes made from types of gourds.

The second example is an 18th-century escritorio or portable writing desk with clear Asian influences in its painted decoration: on the inside of the upper lid is a depiction of the death of Goliath, while the interior of the fall-front shows a courtly love scene. This decoration in the manner of Asian lacquerware coexists with the formal structure of this type of piece of furniture: a central architectural door surrounded by drawers and an upper section made of arches in contrasting shades of wood. The decorative style of these scenes is also linked, as we shall see below, to enconchado painting.

The final example is a box from Olinalá (in the state of Guerrero) dated 1874, therefore from the post-colonial period, which allows us to track painting or polychromy techniques, and shows the revolution that the arrival of the 19th century brought about in terms of materials and techniques available to artists, maintaining the stylistic guidelines inherited from the 17th and 18th centuries, but losing the material heritage of the older processes.

2. Materials and Methods

In order to add to and improve the understanding of the analytical data mentioned in the text, the following lines contain a brief summary of the different analytical techniques used in this study, as well as their application to the materials analysed.

Optical microscopy (OM). As a first step to understanding the structure of the objects, micro-samples were taken and studied by different microscopy techniques, both in transmitted and reflected light. The examination of these samples was carried out by polarised light microscopy (PLM) and fluorescence microscopy. Olympus BX-60 optical microscope with visible and ultraviolet illumination.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This complements and greatly expands the previous techniques, achieving significant image magnification. When coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray system (SEM-EDX), it allows for the assessment of the elemental composition of the constituents of the sample. It can also give us detailed information on the inorganic materials present and their distribution within the sample, which is especially helpful in identifying pigments, fillers and adulterants. An SEM-EDX Hitachi S-3000-N electron microscope with a Bruker EDX Quantax EDX was used for this technique.

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used as an analytical method for inorganic materials, as in the previous case. Although it has certain analytical limitations, it has the advantage of being non-destructive and not requiring sampling. An Amptek XR100 portable equipment with a Si-pin detector and X-ray tube and control Oxford Instrument Eclipse III (Ag anode), multichannel analyzer MCA 8000A was used in this study.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This spectroscopic technique has been mainly used to analyse preparatory layers and coating layers (varnishes). Analyses were carried out between 4400 cm⁻¹ and 370 cm⁻¹, using an IR-TF Perkin-Elmer Spectrum One spectrometer, either in KBr pellets or by superficial analysis using UATR (Universal Attenuated Total Reflectance).

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for the identification of organic materials of both a lipophilic and hydrophilic nature, in particular binders, varnishes, dyes, resins, gums, etc. An Agilent GC 5977/Agilent MSD 5975C gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer was used. The samples of lipophilic substances are treated with the Meth-prep II methylation reactive (MPII method). The samples of lipophilic substances were treated with the Meth-prep II methylation reactive (MPII method). Used for the carbohydrates and proteins, a hydrolysis reaction with microwave assisted HC1 6 M and a derivatisation with BSTFA (TMS method) or TBDMSTFA (TBDMS method) in pyridine for the resulting lipid acids, amino acids and monosaccharides was used.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was mainly used for the identification of organic dyes present in the pictorial samples. Agilent Infinity 1200 chromatograph with DAD detector monitored to 275 nm.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. The Beginnings of the Novo-Hispanic Lacquer Objects

Chest Decorated with Plant Motifs, Mythical Animals and Hunting Scenes, Peribán Style, Third or Last Quarter of the 16th Century, Lacquered Wood, Polychromed Interior, Original Iron Lock and Handles

This extraordinary early chest decorated with polychrome lacquer (Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3) was made using the traditional technique of embutido or incrustado, an artisanal technique that was handed down directly from the pre-Hispanic period with the famous lacquered jícaras, probably made by indigenous craftsmen (tlacuilo: “el que escribe pintando”, what today would be a painter) until the beginning of the viceregal period [7]. The chest is a common type of furniture in Europe since the Middle Ages. It was perhaps an object for the estrado (according to the Spanish and Portuguese custom, the estrado was the room where the ladies sat on carpets and cushions on the floor) [8]. The iron fittings were made following a late Gothic design. The decorative motifs fall within the so-called ‘Mannerist-influenced workshop’, and combine the pre-Hispanic indigenous character with decorations derived from European Renaissance models that were brought to America through prints, and were also very much present in mural paintings in those early days [9,10]. The decoration reproduces the classic motifs derived from the Renaissance: cartouches, grotesques and a candelieri decoration.

The technique consists of applying a white ground of an inorganic material, specifically dolomite (tóctetl), and, on top of this, a coloured ground (fondeado), which is usually black, ochre or red; these layers were applied with the palm of the hand. Before it was completely dry, the upper ground was incised with an awl or an agave or maguey thorn, leaving the white dolomite base exposed. Different colours were then inlaid, also with fingers, in the cut-out areas. The binder traditionally used in this technique is an oleo-resinous combination composed of chía oil and aje fat, although, as we shall see, there may be variations in the resinous material used [11].

Chía oil extracted from the seeds of Salvia hispanica (a shrub from the Laminaceae family common in central and southern Mexico and other Central American areas) was widely used by pre-Columbian civilisations for its pharmaceutical, cosmetic and nutritional qualities [12]. Although we know that it was also a material used by the craftsmen of the time, its use was maintained in colonial craftsmanship, as in the case in question, and in the easel painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, which was confirmed by the most recent research (the analysis of some paintings by the Mexican painter Miguel Cabrera (1695–1768) carried out by Enrique Parra (Larco Química y Arte S.L.) for our Icono I&R study confirmed the identification of chía oil as a binder) [13].

Ajé or axe was extracted from the females of the hemiptera insect Coccus axin (in Nahuatl axin and in Mayan niin), a parasite of certain tree species, which after a laborious refining process yielded a highly resistant and long-lasting oil. The origins of its use also date back to the pre-Hispanic period [14]

In the chest in question, the ground layer applied directly to the wood is pure dolomite, combined with smaller quantities of quartz, clays and traces of carbon black. Two different grades of dolomite grindings are observed: coarse particles up to 100 µm and smaller ones less than 25 µm. Analyses show some penetration of the dolomite base by chia oil from the layer applied above (Figure 4).

The binder for this layer is animal glue, a variation on the traditional practice, which used the same binder as in the subsequent oil-resinous layers, the aje-chia oil combination.

The background colour is mainly based on the use of bone black (identification of bone black has been performed by XRF with peaks of calcium highlighted at 3.69 and 4.01 KeV, together with phosphorus (2.02 KeV), and potassium (3.31 KeV).

The binder in this layer, as in the following ones, has been identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) as a combination of chia oil (Salvia hispanica) and resin from Bursera simaruba, a resinous exudation of the tree of the Burseraceae family also called palo mulato, chacaj or carate. The identification of chia oil is based on the predominance of polyhydroxy acids in gas chromatography, while in the case of bursera the identifying markers are compounds such as burseol and germacrene [15]. It is a very common species from the southeastern United States, Central America to Colombia and Venezuela [16]. Its use is documented from the Mayan period in cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications, but also as an additive to binding media in Mayan mural paintings from the Middle Pre-Classic period (between 900 and 300/250 BC).

The detection of Bursera resin indicates that craftsmen had access to alternative materials to the use of aje, an aspect that has not been documented until now.

The coloured inlays in the cut-out areas of this black layer show simple combinations of pigments, applied in a single layer; only the reds have a thin pinkish-white first layer, and a second layer which is dark red. The thin (5 µm) pinkish layer contains red lake and lead white. The second layer of pure red lake is 25–30 µm thick and is divided into two sub-layers (Figure 5 and Figure 6). Both layers contain a red cochineal lake, identified by the presence of carminic acid and flavokermesic acid from the HPLC analysis. The red lake has been prepared with an inorganic substrate of dolomite, alumina and gypsum.

The pink animals such as unicorns and other decorative details such as ribbons and floral details combine lead white with traces of the red lake mentioned in the previous paragraph, and a few indigo particles.

In the case of the blues, the organic dye indigo has been identified, and mixed with clays and very finely ground lead white.

The brown or brownish coloured elements have a high proportion of earths, although XRF analysis also indicates a certain amount of arsenic, suggesting that a certain amount of an arsenic-containing pigment has been added to the colour mixture. The XRF micro-analysis shows a clear arsenic peak at 11.73 KeV, as well as some sulfur enhancement at 2.31 KeV.

Its addition would give an orange or golden hue to these areas, although today they have turned to a slight greenish brown (Figure 7).

The orange elements, such as perimeter lines, scrolls and certain bushes, have a combination of red lead and yellow earth, lightened with traces of lead white. Identification of red lead was performed both microscopically and by XRF, showing lead peaks at 9.20, 10.54, 12.61 and 14.76 KeV (Figure 8). In the case of the white areas and lines, a combination of lead white, as a predominant component with dolomite, is observed.

It is worthy of note that the uniformity and constant thickness of the layers in the samples taken always varies slightly between 25 and 30 µm. This could confirm the aforementioned application of the different layers using hands and fingers, and there are also references to traditional processes of polishing or burnishing the surfaces with some type of stone, which would further explain the uniformity of the coloured layers.

Another interesting aspect is the question of the hardness of these polychrome surfaces, since, paradoxically, chia is considered an oil with scant drying power, and this is confirmed, as we stated earlier, in the case of viceregal Mexican easel painting. It is possible that its combination with bursera, or in this case with ajé, could substantially modify the physical properties of these layers, making them highly resistant to the action of conventional solvents. This aspect still requires extensive analytical and experimental research.

In relation to this last aspect, it is necessary to deal with the issue of the original final coating or protection layers, since in this chest we have observed, in all the samples, a thin translucent layer with the aforementioned chia-bursera oil combination in its composition, sometimes with a few coloured particles dragged from the underlying coloured layer. It is, therefore, an original coating that must be preserved in any restoration process, and shows hardly any signs of discolouration or yellowing.

3.2. Evolution to the European Rococó Style

Portable Desk Decorated on the Inside with Scenes of David and Goliath and a Courtly Theme, Mexico, 18th Century

The decoration of this small escritorio (Figure 9) shows a clear evolution in the lacquer or maque decoration from the previous work. Along with the evident stylistic evolution faithful to the fundamentals of the Rococo style, we can also observe a new technique that spread rapidly during the 18th century throughout the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the technique of polychromy, which is very different from the embutido technique mentioned above, and is largely based on techniques clearly derived from European sources. Once again, the decorative influence of Asian lacquers is combined with European styles. The consolidation of the Manila Galleon route facilitated commercial and cultural relations between America, Asia and Europe, for almost 250 years (from 1565 with the Legazpi and Urdaneta expedition until the second decade of the 19th century). Galleons left New Spain for the Philippines loaded with gold, silver, native foods (sugar cane, cocoa, corn or tobacco) and animals, and also allowed the transfer of army officers, merchants or missionaries to that part of the world. On the return voyage, or tornaviaje, the ship brought back spices, silks, ivories and, among all these luxury items, lacquerware. Once the ship arrived at the port of Acapulco, the exotic merchandise was distributed throughout the viceroyalty, and another part, from the port of Veracruz, departed for Europe. All of this was marked by the strong stylistic influence of the numerous objects that arrived in America via the Manila Galleon from the Philippines, Japan, and China [17].

The use of a monochrome background is maintained, following the guidelines and influence of Asian lacquers, which were normally black or red. On this background, layers of colour were applied by brush, and often included gold and silver. Where the metal was applied in leaf form, the mordant was the paint binder itself, i.e., chía oil, although it is traditionally accepted that by the 19th century this had been replaced by linseed oil, although our recent sources indicate the use of this oil in Mexican lacquer before that date so it is now necessary to revise this assertion.

In the present piece, the polychrome areas have been prepared with a gypsum base containing some particles of red earth and vermilion, which give it a pinkish hue, and the binder is animal glue.

The base or background of the polychromy is an orange-red colour and is composed mainly of vermilion and smaller quantities of gypsum, with animal glue as the binder, as with the preparation layer. The radiographic image shows how this layer has been applied, probably with a wide brush and with great ease in its application (Figure 10 and Figure 11). This pictorial layer links this type of work to Asian lacquers, in particular to Japanese lacquerware, where the red base usually contains cinnabar bound with urushi [18,19].

The next pictorial layers were executed, as mentioned above, with a painterly technique, using a brush and an oil binder, specifically linseed oil.

An interesting aspect of this chest, which links it directly to Asian lacquer objects, is the presence of silver leaf in the central areas of the figurative scene, mainly on the figures. This has been adhered by means of a mordant of a proteinaceous nature with black particles embedded in it [20].

The metal leaf painted with thin layers of paint and glazes allows the silver to shine through and gives a special sparkle and luminosity to the elements represented, a technique that could also be linked to enconchado painting, or works made with mother-of-pearl inlays on which glazes are applied, mainly with organic dyes, as in the case of Namban objects. Thus, we can see that the yellow areas with a clear golden hue, such as the decorations on Goliath’s breastplate and skirt, or David’s tight-fitting sackcloth tunic or gonela, have been painted with a combination of lead-containing yellow with traces of a copper-containing blue and lead white, which is darkened in the shaded areas with the addition of red earth mixed with red lake.

A micro-sample taken from Goliath’s blue boot revealed a single blue layer over the orange base and the silver sheet composed of indigo, lead white and calcite, with two overlayers which were probably added afterwards (Figure 12). Other blue areas, such as the skirt of the same figure, also had silver underneath.

The dark reds are based on the use of red lake/dye glazes, most probably cochineal, as it is common in America, combined with red earth, lead white, and traces of umber and copper blue.

The greens of the trees and ground vegetation have been painted in one or two layers, all based on varying amounts of copper resinate and lead white, with additions of brown earth, red earth and traces of red lead in the top-most layer to adjust the shade (Figure 13, Figure 14 and Figure 15).

The black border that frames the entire scene was made with bone black, combined with smaller quantities of earths, umber, and a small amount of lead white The identification of bone black was performed by EDXRF as phosphorus and calcium peaks were detected at 2.02 and 3.69 KeV respectively.

3.3. Survival and Innovation in Lacquer Techniques

Olinalá Chest with Decorations of Garden City Views and Floral Arrangements, 19th Century, Ownership Inscription: Emilia Quijano and Dated: S^ta Rosa 1874

This small box (Figure 16) is dated as being from 1874, and therefore belongs to the post-colonial period. It represents the continuity of the stylistic models of this type of Olinalá box, together with a clear evolution in the materials and techniques used for its decoration (Figure 17 and Figure 18). The late 18th century and, more so, the whole of the 19th century, represented a real revolution in terms of materials available to artists in all fields of artistic creativity. It is true that the 20th century saw the beginning of a successful process of re-discovery of traditional maque techniques in different Mexican regions which, as we have said, dated back to pre-Hispanic times and had been lost over the centuries [21].

Here the technique used is highly pictorial, with a palette that results from the availability of new pigments and their mixtures, which is clearly very different from the models of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, the decorative techniques of these objects can still combine rayado (i.e., scraped) with inlay or with silver or gold leaf decoration; however, in this box, neither of such techniques are present. It has just been painted (Figure 19).

In some samples there is a thin, irregular white-orange base, which may have been related to a ‘resanding’ of the wood or to a size layer in order to level out and fill in the irregularities of the wood. This has animal glue as the binder and contains anhydrite, calcite and red lead traces of red earth and clays are also detected. Their thickness varies between 0 and 60 µm depending on the “topography” of the underlying wood.

A primer, or a base for the black lacquer, was then applied, containing charcoal black, red lead, earth pigments, and gypsum. Both this preparatory layer and the subsequent pictorial layers were bound with chia oil, obtained from the seeds of Salvia hispanica and rich in polyhydroxylated fatty acids. Chromatographic analyses suggest the additional presence of triterpenes from the resin of Bursera simaruba, a species which, as already mentioned in the case of the first chest studied, is common in Central and northern South America.

The detection of chia oil confirms that this traditional American oil continued to be used during the 19th century alongside linseed oil, which was supposed to have completely replaced chia oil during the 19th century. Chromatographic examination reveals significant amounts of 16 and 18 C polyhydroxylated fatty acids consistent with Salvia hispanica seed oil. Chromatograms indicate the additional presence of cedrandiol, which could be an indication of American cedar (Cendrela sp.) resin, although it could be from the supporting wood.

The uniform appearance of the thickness and surface of the black primer layer suggests that this layer may have been polished or burnished with a stone, traditionally called quartz stone. This process is common in almost all Mexican maque techniques.

The pigments found are common 19th-century pigments, along with innovations introduced in the 18th century, such as Prussian blue, which was invented in Berlin by Diesbach in 1704, and other pigments inherited from earlier times. Thus, for example, the yellow used is chrome yellow, which began to be marketed in Europe around 1800, and which was mixed with Prussian blue to obtain the greens (Figure 20 and Figure 21). The reds are exclusively red earth and vermilion, the black has been identified as charcoal black, and the white is the common lead white.

All of the decorative layers have natural barium sulfate as a pigment adulterant, as was common in commercially prepared artists’ colours during the 19th century. Besides the natural barium sulfate, minor amounts of gypsum are observed as an additional adulterant in all the layers analysed.

4. Conclusions

In the viceroyalty of New Spain, craftsmen adapted the characteristic decorative style of lacquer objects from Asia and their own indigenous heritage to make European types of formal furniture. This hybridisation of European forms with Asian decorative styles was not exclusive to the Spanish colonial period, as it was also found in a wider European context during the 17th and 18th centuries. Thus, the objects made in Spain that tried to imitate the Asian lacquer technique were known as charoles; in Italy, lacca povera objects were made by sticking paper cut-outs or hand-coloured engravings to the surface of the furniture and fixing them with a layer of varnish to achieve the shiny appearance of authentic lacquer; or in France, the vernis Martin, a technique named after the Martin brothers, who had a workshop in the 18th century in which they reproduced the much-prized Asian lacquer using European varnishes.

We cannot ignore the value of the famous barniz de Pasto or mopa-mopa objects, made in areas of New Spain or New Granada (Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador) [22]. Hybrids of various cultures, these high-quality luxury objects were prized for their exotic, sophisticated decoration.

The wide diffusion of this type of object usually referred to as chinoiserie or japanning shows how these fashions traveled, not only from the Far East to American or European areas, but also from Europe to the West Indies, a true proto-globalisation with different paths and directions that lasted more than three hundred years.

Throughout the viceroyalty of New Spain, different regional styles and multiple workshops of great decorative richness developed that were dependent on the different geographical environments and regions. In this study, we have focused on the material research of three Mexican lacquer objects from different cultural and chronological periods, obtaining interesting results that show the technical diversity of this type of pieces, which has been undergoing a renewed process of rediscovery and recovery traditional techniques that have been used since the middle of the 16th century.

It is also essential to have a precise understanding of these techniques in order to be able to undertake any restoration of these works, as they are very different from the techniques used in the European decorative arts of the time (see Supplementary Materials).