Mexican School; second half of the 16th century.
"Triptych".
Boxwood.
It presents faults and loss of one of the thieves.
Measurements: 9.5 x 5.5 cm (closed); 11 x 13 x 4 cm (open).
Triptych with two small doors on the front held in place by a sliding clip that opens to reveal a triptych with meticulous wood carving. The main leaf, the middle one, shows the scene of the Descent from the Cross. The figure of one of the thieves who were crucified with Christ, representing the good thief and the bad thief, is missing from the scene. The main scene is completed by the figure of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross, holding a skull in her hands, an element that defines the iconography of the saint. The side walls, or the inside of the doors, present a complex ornamental pattern, divided into sections in which an independent image is revealed in each of them. Structured in three scenes on each door, we can appreciate carvings referring to the prayer in the garden, the scourging, Christ before Pilate, the fall on Calvary, Christ before Pilate, Christ stripped of his garments. In short, biblical passages alluding to the cycle of the Passion of Christ, in such a way that the work is revealed as a book composed of images.
This type of work was very common, mostly for private devotion, but this did not mean that the aesthetic work was any less meticulous, but rather that this type of piece is revealed as small jewels in which materials such as silver or plumeria, very common as an ornament in these pieces, were used. Work very similar to this can be seen in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York (reference number 10.141.2).