Page 162 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

has been attributed to a Valladolid craftsman and
dated to around 1500.
The base of the chalice is divided into five lobes
and is decorated with an unusual floral pattern
executed in filigree and enamel, repeated at the
base of the bowl and enriched with tiny pearls.
The broad uppermost part of the stem, just below
the bowl, is articulated with gothic fenestration.
The bowl itself is inscribed with the words of the
angelic salutation from the Annunciation.
The chalice originally comes from the Vallado-
lid church of La Magdalena, a parish that pros-
pered under the patronage of the La Gasca family.
It is traditionally said to have been a gift of the
prelate and statesman Pedro de la Gasca (1485-
1567), who was named President of the Audiencia
of Peru by Charles v. La Gasca is known as "el
Padre restuarador y pacificador" for his role in
subduing the rebellion against the crown led by
Gonzalo de Pizarro. Upon his return to Spain,
he served as Bishop of Sigiienza and later, of
Palencia. R.K.

4*
PANELS FROM A DOOR

last quarter i$th century
Castilian
walnut
x
1 4 x
each upper panel 145.5 5°-$ (57 / 2O )
5
each lower panel 50 x 50.8 (i$ /8 x 20)
inscribed: AVE GRACIA p and SALVE REGINA MA
references: Ara Gil 1977, 371-372; Mateo Gomez,
1979, 219; Martin Gonzalez 1985, 15
Museo Diocesano y Catedralicio, Valladolid

This door, now placed at the entrance to the chapel
of San Llorente in Valladolid Cathedral, is one of
six late fifteenth century doors to survive from
the no longer extant Collegiate church of Santa
Maria la Mayor. The Colegiata was founded in
1095 by the Conde Ansurez and was later elevated
to the status of Cathedral in 1595 by Clement vm
at the request of Philip n.
The door is divided into four panels: the two serve as guardians of portals or of a particular coat Valladolid towards the end of the fifteenth cen-
lower ones are decorated with tracery while the of arms. Two of the most prominent examples tury, only a few names are known: Fray Pedro de
two upper ones are decorated with a foliate pat- occur in the decoration of the fagade of the Cole- Lorena, Fray Pedro de Valladolid, Martin Sanchez,
tern populated with birds. A jar of lilies, associ- gio de San Gregorio in Valladolid and the Capilla Pedro de Guadalupe. Among these craftsmen, few
ated with the Virgin (to whom the colegiata was de los Condestables in Burgos Cathedral. The wild names can be connected with surviving works.
dedicated), is found in each of these two panels, man and woman represented in the Valladolid Martin Sanchez, who is referred to as a resident of
accompanied by inscriptions which likewise refer door function similarly as the "heraldic" guard- Valladolid, was active between 1486 and 1489 in
to Mary: in the left hand panel, "AVE GRACIA p" ians of an emblem of the Virgin. the construction of the stalls for the monk's choir
and in the right hand panel, "SALVE REGINA MA/' In The author of the portal is unknown, though it at the Cartuja de Miraflores near Burgos. Unfor-
the latter panel, the lilies are supported by a wild is likely that all six doors were commissioned at tunately, the Miraflores stalls have no figural
man and woman (see cat. 4), a rather common the same time as a set of choir stalls, also from the decoration and it is not possible to draw any con-
motif in Castilian art of the late fifteenth century, Collegiate church, now found in the Cathedral. clusions regarding the authorship of the Valladolid
above all in heraldic contexts in architecture and Although there appear to have been a certain doors by analyzing similarities between the
the decorative arts, where such creatures often number of entalladores (woodcarvers) active in two works. R.K.

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD l6l