Bidspirit auction | Nun’s chest shield. Colonial School.

Nun’s chest shield. Colonial School. Mexico. 17th century. - ”Immaculate” Oil on copper. With a carved, stuccoed and gilded late 18th century frame. Diameter: 10,5 cm. This genre of devotional art spread considerably in the 17th and 18th centuries in Spain and in the New Hispanic world. They were often small pictures painted or embroidered with religious scenes, that nuns wore on their chests as they took their vows. In the classic portraits of crowned nuns, as well as flowers, veils and other ornaments, the relevance of these chest shields can also be appreciated. On occasions, even artists of the calibre of José de Páez, Miguel Cabrera and Luís Juárez among others, painted some of these shields.