Viceregal chest; Mexico, Viceroyalty of New Spain, circa 1700.Tortoiseshell and chiselled silver.CITES certificate attached.Provenance: Private collection Portugal.Measurements: 16 x 21 x 12,5 cm.Known in Mexico as boots, due to their convex lid, as a transcription of the large pieces of furniture that formed part of the household goods of the inhabitants of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which were taken in large quantities to the Iberian Peninsula and used as donations, especially to the churches or parishes where their donors had been baptised, as well as enriching the Sevillian collections of objects from the Indies.Due to the abundance of tortoises, chests and chests were made in Campeche, embellished with fine silver threads that run through and frame tortoiseshell designs. The curvature of the tortoiseshell lid is obtained by heat, which makes it malleable, and in some cases a gold leaf is even placed under the tortoiseshell to give it greater clarity. Many tortoiseshell chests have a documented origin in the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco. Guadalajara was an important producer of this type of sumptuary objects. In private collections and museums in Mexico, baulillos and boxes are preserved with inscriptions that identify them as having been made in this city, according to an inscription on one of these pieces, and it is even known that they were made in pairs, like those preserved in the Museo de América in Madrid (Inv. 06730 and 06735). According to the researchers' opinion, the tortoiseshell must have been brought from Campeche and worked there inbination with the tapatío silversmiths, as the inhabitants of that city are called. The main characteristic of these rectangular boots with semi-circular lids is the use of fine and delicate silver fittings, which contrast with the warmth of the tortoiseshell. The corner pieces, the handle at the top, the legs, the keyhole or mirror, as it is called in some regions, and all the pieces that, like clamps, hold the tortoiseshell plates, also of silver, in the front and on the sides and back, ensuring their immobility, are made of silver and are held in place by silver nails. The tortoiseshell sits on a wooden core that forms the actual chest. A few examples have survived in which the tortoiseshell is mounted in the air.Dimensions: 16 x 21 x 12.5 cm.