Description:

Latin America, Mexico, ca. 18th century CE. A beautiful trio of glass beaded coin purses, each one woven from fine threads pulled from the spear-shaped fronds of the maguey plant - maguey cactus (of the agave family) being the main ingredient in pulque, mezcal, and tequila as well as visual inspiration for Mexican Modernists including Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. In fact, a famous 1937 photo shoot for Vogue magazine entitled, "Senoras of Mexico" featured glamorous images of the exquisite Frida beside a monumental maguey plant. Known as "ixtle" in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztec), this fiber has been used in Mesoamerica for over 2000 years for clothing, chords, and bindings. These exceptional examples are adorned with glass and gold beads so minuscule and difficult to work with that they became known as "blind beads." Three lovely antique Mexican coin purses, one decorated with the initials "D" and "W" and copious beads in pink, burgundy, green, and white hues, the other two with stylized stellar or petaled flower motifs adorning the bases and stylized geometric grids and registers on the walls in hues of blue, white, and gold, comprised of both glass and gold beads, and ixtle fiber. Size: largest measures 3.75" L x 2.25" in diameter (9.5 cm x 5.7 cm)

Provenance: Ex-James Caswell, Historia Antiques, Santa Monica, CA

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#117993

  • Condition: Bead losses and separation as shown.

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March 2, 2017 7:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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