Box

FINE BOXES
Colonial inventories list a variety of specialized containers in estrados. Such coveted pieces were often manufactured with valuable materials such as silver, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, or precious woods; covered in velvet or embossed leather; lacquered or painted; and accompanied with silver or gilt-iron hardware. In Spanish American homes, these containers served as jewel boxes and coffers, small writing desks (on view elsewhere in this exhibition), sewing boxes, and receptacles for playing cards, domino tiles, chips, dice, and other gaming pieces.

Native-made coffers finished in a traditional, labor-intensive lacquer technique called barniz de Pasto were particularly prized, along with lacquer caskets and writing desks made in Asia and exported in galleons from Manila to Spain and her overseas territories.