Coffer

This coffer, or box, reflects a blending of designs: octagonal spice boxes from India; inlay techniques of mother-of-pearl from Japan; and in the interior, gold-painted scenes—a hut, figures, and birds in an imaginary landscape—from Chinese lacquer screens. Lima craftsmen absorbed all of these influences from the traffic of Asian goods through the Philippines and other Spanish Pacific colonies. This piece served as a receptacle for jewelry, combs, and other materials for a member of colonial Peru’s wealthy class to prepare at their toilet, a European aristocratic morning custom of formally donning dress, cosmetics, and jewelry that found its way to the Americas.