Lot 291
18th C. Cusco School Oratorio Portátil, Viceregal Peru, ex-Holler & Saunders
18th C. Cusco School Oratorio Portátil, Viceregal Peru, ex-Holler & Saunders
Starting Bid: $3,500
(0 Bids)
Spanish Colonial, Viceregal Peru, Cusco School., ca. 1720 - 1780 CE. This is an exceptionally rare and scholarly object — a Cusqueno portable devotional oratory (oratorio portátil), the domestic equivalent of the great Baroque altarpieces that filled Andean churches in the 17th–18th centuries. These were made for elite criollo households, clergy on pastoral circuits, or traveling officials, and very few survive intact outside institutional collections. Constructed of aliso (Andean alder), the signature substrate of Cusqueno workshops, this oratorio portatil presents to the world a face of austere planked wood joined with hand-forged iron hardware. Opened, it discloses an interior of carved and water-gilt gessoes architecture: a full aedicular arch springing from acanthus spandrels, flanked by turned Solomonic columns rising from floriated plinths, the red bole glowing warmly through centuries of softened gilding. A predella drawer spans the base, intended for relics, a rosary, or a written suffrage document. The central niche, purpose-built for a polychromed bulto, stands empty, its golden arch now framing an eloquent absence. Size (open): 13" L x 34.8" W x 25.4" H (33 cm x 88.4 cm x 64.5 cm); (closed): 13" L x 17.5" W x 25.4" H (33 cm x 44.4 cm x 64.5 cm)
The four door panels constitute a memorial commission of precise theological argument. On the left, the Cristo de la Humildad y Paciencia endures his prison between Scourging and Calvary while a white-veiled female soul reclines within a dark rectangular tomb-pit at his feet, one hand extended upward in the canonical gesture of the anima begging purgatorial remission. Below her, the Virgen de los Dolores stands in frontal devotional mode, black mantle, rayed nimbus, and rosary, her compassion theologically co-redemptive with her Son's Passion. On the right, the Crucifixion blazes against a crimson ninth-hour sky beneath the INRI titulus, Adam's skull buried at the base of the cross, while a second anima, a male soul in secular dress, kneels within his own coffin-pit to receive the blood falling from above. The lower right panel renders Christ bearing the Cross, anchoring the cycle within the Via Crucis sequence.
The two souls are almost certainly a married couple, endowed here in perpetual proximity to the Passion mysteries whose merits Tridentine theology held sufficient to release souls from purgatory. Every prayer told before this altar was a suffrage; every opening of its doors placed the dead face to face with their Redeemer. The painted surfaces, with their mineral palette, compressed narrative energy, and punched gilt gesso borders, are consistent with the Cusco school in its mature provincial phase. Complete oratorios of this quality, retaining original all-wood construction, predella drawer, gilt interior architecture, and a fully coherent four-panel program with both animas intact, are genuinely scarce. This example survives as a rare and moving document of viceregal memorial culture.
Provenance: Ex-private collection of Samuel Saunders, Nogales, AZ, partner of Holler & Saunders, Ltd., founded in 1979 and widely regarded as one of the preeminent authorities in Spanish Colonial and Mexican folk art
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #
201779
- Condition: Missing central altarpiece. Loosening to wood panels with fissures, chips, nicks, and abrasions throughout, commensurate with age. Some small areas of retouching. Good remaining imagery and rich patina throughout
Accepted Forms of Payment:
ACH, American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer
Shipping
Auction House will ship, at Buyer's expense
Artemis Fine Arts
You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 30% and any applicable taxes and shipping.
View full terms and conditions
| From: | To: | Increments: |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $749 | $25 |
| $750 | $1,499 | $50 |
| $1,500 | $2,999 | $100 |
| $3,000 | $7,499 | $250 |
| $7,500 | $14,999 | $500 |
| $15,000 + | $1,000 |