Strip of 16th Century Bobbin Lace made in Mexico
This strip of bobbin lace made in Mexico in the 16th century, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, serves as an example of what locally produced bobbin lace looked like in New Spain two centuries prior to the creation of Juárez’s De mulato y mestiza, produce mulato es torna atrás. Due to its length of 22 inches and its wide width of nine inches, this piece of lace may have been used as a sleeve decoration in a style similar to that of the woman’s dress in Juárez’s painting. While this strip of bobbin lace appears to incorporate gilt thread into its construction, the bobbin lace depicted on the collar and sleeves of the woman in the Juárez’s painting appears to be made of bleached cotton and lacking gilt thread detailing.
“Strip,” Mexican, 16th Century, Bobbin Lace, 22 in. by 9 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Nuttall Collection, Gift of Mrs. Magdalena Nuttall, 1908 .08.180.958.
Casta Painting by Juan Rodriguez Juarez, De Mulato y mestiza, produce mulato es torna atrás (translation: Mulatto and Mestiza Produce a Mulatto Return-Backwards), 1715, oil on canvas, 102.9 cm x 144.1 cm, private collection.
In New Spain during the period in which this painting was created, Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors implemented a social hierarchy system called the Casta System. Enforced as a method to maintain European power and superiority in the new world, the Casta System classifies mixed race families in New Spain under a system of racial labels. The lace worn on the collar and sleeves of the woman depicted in Juan Rodriguez Juarez’s De mulato y mestiza, produce mulato es torna atrás demonstrates the deliberate, detailed inclusion of lace within the genre of Casta painting. The work depicts a family group standing in an outside setting. The man is described according to this period’s Casta classifications as “mulatto,” or the child of a Spanish person and an African person.[1] The child is also described as “mulatto” and is seen clapping and singing along in the right-hand corner of the painting. The clothing worn by the “mestiza” woman, the Casta System’s term for a person of indigenous Spanish descent, in the left side of the composition is especially significant, as Juarez rendered her garment’s lace detailing with striking specificity. The woman’s collar and sleeves as “extraordinarily rich” and “lavishly ornamented with intricate lace work”.[2] The lace shown is most likely handmade bobbin lace due to its illustrated delicacy, lightness, and sheer, semi-transparent quality.
The painting’s inclusion and meticulous depiction of lace is indicative of both European interest in the Clothing of New Spain in the eighteenth century and inhabitants of New Spain’s interest in establishing self-image and displaying wealth.[3] Such displays of wealth including lace and other textile adornments were banned by Spanish Authorities in late seventeenth century New Spain from 1684 to 1691 in an effort to limit consumption of extravagant clothing and excessively luxurious goods.[4] Completed in the decades following these laws, Juarez’s portrayal of lace serves as an emblem of colonial opulence and visually reinforces “New Spain’s prominent place in the New World.”[5] Furthermore, the work exemplifies the way in which Casta paintings employed textile and fashion to pictorially codify differentiations within New Spain’s system of racial stratification.[6]
Note: Different connotations and constructs pertain to racial terms in latin America compared to north America. Resources include the following articles: Who is Black, White, or Mixed Race? How Skin Color, Status, and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America by Edward Telles and Tianna Paschel and Mestizaje and the Discourse of National/Cultural Identity in Latin America, 1845-1959 by Lourdes Martinez-Echazabal.
[1] Katzew 77
[2] Katzew 77
[3] Katzew 69
[4] Katzew 68
[5] Katzew 69-70
[6] Katzew 69-70
18th Century Bobbin Lace Border made in Mexico
This bobbin lace border made in Mexico in the 18th century, from the Victoria and Albert’s Museum’s collection, serves as an example of what a locally-manufactured bobbin lace border would have looked like in New Spain during the period in which Ibarra’s De español e india, mestizo was created. The border is “embroidered in silver-gilt thread in satin,” and exhibits “a floral pattern embroidered in silver-gilt” overlaid onto pink silk. While this examples shows bobbin lace overlaid onto colored silk to create visual contrast, the bobbin lace border adorning the woman’s garment in Ibarra’s painting is not overlaid onto silk and possesses a lighter, more ethereal visual quality.
“Border,” Mexican, 18th Century, Bobbin Lace, 47 in. by 6.5 in. Victoria and Albert Museum. Bequeathed by Alfred Percival Maudslay, Esq. T.56-1931.
Casta Painting attributed to José de Ibarra, De español e india, mestizo (translation: From Spaniard and Indian, Mestizo), 1725, oil on canvas, 164 cm x 91 cm, Museo de América, Madrid.
The above Casta painting by José de Ibarra shows a similar family group of three. The man, who is described as a Spaniard, gestures to the woman in the left side of the composition, who is described as “Indian” or Native American. At their feet are two children who are described as “mestizo,” the Casta-system term used to describe a person having one Native American and one Spanish parent. Just as in Juan Rodriguez Juarez’s De mulato y mestiza, produce mulato es torna atrás, the woman is depicted wearing a lavish garment adorned with bobbin lace. Rather than ornamenting only the sleeves and collar of the garment, as in Juarez’s painting, however, the lace depicted in Ibarra’s painting serves as a border used to accentuate the bottom of the garment as well as its sleeves and collar. Like Juarez’s painting above, Ibarra’s work exemplifies the way in which artists in New Spain “used clothing as an indicator of socioeconomic class” and social stratification under the Casta system.[1]
[1] Katzew 109