Armorial Hanging
Place made:San Luis Potosi, Mexico
General region:North and Central America
Period: Viceroyalty of New Spain
Date: ca. 1771
Dimensions:
height: 93 1/8 in. (236.5 cm)
width: 90 1/2 in. (229.9 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Lillie and Roy Cullen Endowment
Object number: 2011.14
Provenance: SAMA purchased from J.Kugel Antiquaires 9/14/11.
Label Text
This embroidery is adorned by coat-of-arms divided into four quarters with the coat-of-arms of four families with their name embroidered, representing the ancestors of the patron: "ARMAS DE RUDIN DE CELI" (Coat-of-Arms of Rubin de Celis), "ARMAS DE PARIENTE" (Coat-of-Arms of Pariente), "ARMAS DE LA CASA DE NORIEGA" (Coat-of-Arms of the House of Noriega), "ARMAS DE ARNERO" (Coat-of-Arms of Arnero), and the Noriega's motto "ANGELUS PELAGIO ET SUIS VICTORIAM" (The Angel Gives Victory to Pelagio and His Family). A helmet surrounded by a military trophy with flags and cannons tops the shield. The coat-of-arms has a frame with the embroidered caption: "SOI DEL GEN[ERA]L D[O]N FER[NAN]DO RUVIN DE ZELIS PARIENTE Y NORIEGA ALCAL[D]E I MAYOR DE LA CIUDAD DE S[A]N LVIS POTOSSI SEYEZO EN EL ARMADILLO ANO DE 1771" ( I am owned by General Don Fernando Rubin de Celis Pariente y Noriega, mayor of the town of San Luis Potosi, embroidered in Armadillo, in the year of 1771). The border is made of a frieze of flowered and foliated scrolls alternating with two-headed eagles and a second frieze of flowered and foliated inhabited by opposed lions and birds.
This embroidery, adorned with coat-of arms, crest and motto, is related to the armorial tapestries (sometimes referred to as reposteros) found in halls and antechambers of great house in Spain and other parts of Europe. It combines colonial and European influences, and the Chinese design of birds suggests a European has
executed the cartoon. Vivid colors like green and orange, important scrolls and luxurious vegetation characterize the contemporaneous
Portuguese and Spanish production that the colonial workshop adapts here in a more simple and naïve way.
Surrounding the coat-of-arms, it is indicated that the embroidery has been commissioned by General Don Fernando Rubin de Celis who was lord of Santiuste in Asturias, Spain and mayor of the rich gold and silver mining town of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. As mayor of that town, he founded Our Lady of Guadalupe church on 27th September 1762.
The town of San Luis Potosi is the capital of a northern Mexican state and the embroidery has been made in Armadillo, another town of that state, 45 km from San Luis Potosi. Strong social, political, and economic ties have existed between the cities of San Antonio and San Luis Potosi for over 200 years, and a large number of San Antonio families trace their roots back to that part of Northern Mexico.
(Marion Oettinger Jr, 2012)
This embroidery, adorned with coat-of arms, crest and motto, is related to the armorial tapestries (sometimes referred to as reposteros) found in halls and antechambers of great house in Spain and other parts of Europe. It combines colonial and European influences, and the Chinese design of birds suggests a European has
executed the cartoon. Vivid colors like green and orange, important scrolls and luxurious vegetation characterize the contemporaneous
Portuguese and Spanish production that the colonial workshop adapts here in a more simple and naïve way.
Surrounding the coat-of-arms, it is indicated that the embroidery has been commissioned by General Don Fernando Rubin de Celis who was lord of Santiuste in Asturias, Spain and mayor of the rich gold and silver mining town of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. As mayor of that town, he founded Our Lady of Guadalupe church on 27th September 1762.
The town of San Luis Potosi is the capital of a northern Mexican state and the embroidery has been made in Armadillo, another town of that state, 45 km from San Luis Potosi. Strong social, political, and economic ties have existed between the cities of San Antonio and San Luis Potosi for over 200 years, and a large number of San Antonio families trace their roots back to that part of Northern Mexico.
(Marion Oettinger Jr, 2012)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
