Juan de Espinosa

Juan de Espinosa, a still-life specialist, produced this composition in mid-seventeenth century Madrid. Little is known about Espinosa's career—his oeuvre is based on three signed paintings, two in the Museo del Prado (inv. nos. P007924, P000702¹) and one in the Musée du Louvre (inv. no. RF 1973 2).² But his technical virtuosity, evident in the variety of colors and textures, is apparent. In particular, the grapes, a motif considered a hallmark of Espinosa's paintings, are rendered with great skill: their translucent skins glisten as they catch the light. In the catalogue for the 1998 sale (see Provenance), Bill Jordan confirmed the attribution of the present work.

The elaborate earthenware vessel depicted in this painting was produced by an indigenous artist working in Tonalá, Mexico. The city's ceramics tradition predates the Hispanic period, when the area was part of the viceroyalty of New Spain, but during the sixteenth century, Europeans became fascinated with the unique qualities of the region's clay and imported pieces across the Atlantic. In Europe such ceramic vessels were called "búcaros de Indias," or Indian vases, and were highly prized for their superb craftsmanship, New World origin, and fragrant clay. The fountain's water, infused with the clay's aroma, would have diffused a pleasing scent. 

Tonalá ceramics appear in paintings produced by some of the seventeenth-century's most celebrated artists, among them Antonio Pereda, Antonio Ponce, Juan van der Hamen y León, and Diego Velázquez. Indeed, the infanta Margarita holds a small búcaro on a silver tray in Las Meninas. Here, the fascinating object reflects the globalized aesthetic facilitated by the fluid exchange of artistic ideas between Europe and Latin America, but also offers a striking visualization of the indigenous labor that underpinned the colonial enterprise.

¹ The signature, recorded in the nineteenth century, is no longer visible on the latter.

² Espinosa has sometimes been confused with the painter Juan Bautista de Espinosa (circa 1585-1640), largely a painter of altarpieces.