Basin (lebrillo)
Attributed to
Damián Hernández
Mexican (born in Spain), active 1607–70
Basin (lebrillo)
Mexico (Puebla), 1650–70
Tin-glazed earthenware
This enormous basin is among the finest surviving examples of Talevera Poblana, early tin-glazed earthenware pottery made in Puebla, Mexico, during the 17th century. It mixes Mudéjar (Hispano-Moresque) designs with the style of fashionable Chinese blue-and-white porcelains imported via the Manila Galleon trade. Islamic-style archways and floral motifs decorate the interior walls of the basin, while the center features the double-headed eagle of the European Habsburg dynasty, which controlled New Spain until 1700. At the heart of the eagle is what appears to be a Mexican teocalli (temple), rendered as a building in profile with a crenelated roof, from which emerges a nahua (or curled “speech” scroll)—a symbol of power and authority in Mesoamerica. This suggests that the painter, likely someone working in the Puebla workshop of master potter Damián Hernández, was familiar with Indigenous Mexican hieroglyphic imagery.
Museum purchase with funds from the Estate of Robert J. Morris, 2018 2018.2761
