Collection
/
Decorative Arts and Design

Traveling Altar

1769–ca. 1820

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Elite Spanish American families who shuttled between town and country residences included movable folding furniture and objects—portable beds, tables, and traveling scroll paintings and altars—among their indispensable luggage. This traveling altar, which folds to form a leather-bound trunk to protect its rich silk damask interior, was made for the Peruvian noble family of Ignacio Nieto Peñaloza y Roa, who in 1769 was named count of Alastaya. This title is spelled out in brass tacks on the trunk’s exterior (see illustration).

Caption

Traveling Altar, 1769–ca. 1820. Cedar, partially covered with leather; iron and brass hardware; interior lined with replacement yellow silk; and metal wire trim., Open: 88 x 60 1/2 x 20 in. (223.5 x 153.7 x 50.8 cm) Closed: 21 x 48 x 23 in. (53.3 x 121.9 x 58.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, Frank Sherman Benson Fund, Carll H. de Silver Fund, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, and Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund, 48.206.11. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Traveling Altar

Date

1769–ca. 1820

Medium

Cedar, partially covered with leather; iron and brass hardware; interior lined with replacement yellow silk; and metal wire trim.

Classification

Furniture

Dimensions

Open: 88 x 60 1/2 x 20 in. (223.5 x 153.7 x 50.8 cm) Closed: 21 x 48 x 23 in. (53.3 x 121.9 x 58.4 cm)

Credit Line

Frank L. Babbott Fund, Frank Sherman Benson Fund, Carll H. de Silver Fund, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, and Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund

Accession Number

48.206.11

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