Product Description
This exceptional Peruvian retablo mirror was handcrafted in the 1990s by master artists Eleudora and Mabilon Jimenez Quispe, members of an internationally renowned family of retablo makers from Ayacucho, the historic center of this important Andean folk art tradition.
Retablos hold deep cultural significance among Indigenous communities of the Peruvian highlands. Traditionally constructed as hand-painted wooden boxes, they serve as narrative objects depicting ceremony, daily life, artisan trades, and spiritual practice, preserving cultural memory through sculpture and storytelling.
Surrounding the central mirror are four distinct, intricately rendered scenes:
-
Top: A lively festival procession featuring musicians and masked dancers in ceremonial attire, captured in expressive movement.
-
Left side: A mask maker’s workshop, filled with hand-carved ceremonial masks associated with Andean ritual and celebration.
-
Right side: A hat maker’s scene, displaying rows of colorful, hand-formed hats that symbolize regional identity and traditional dress.
-
Bottom: A curandero (traditional healer) scene, depicting figures engaged in ritual healing practices, accompanied by symbolic objects and natural elements tied to Andean medicine.
Each figure is individually sculpted in ceramic and meticulously hand-painted. The expressive faces, textured garments, and layered compositions demonstrate the artists’ exceptional craftsmanship and narrative depth. The mirror reflects the viewer into the scene, reinforcing the retablo’s role as both a functional object and a cultural mirror.
-
Artists: Eleudora & Mabilon Jimenez Quispe
-
Place of Origin: Lima, Peru
-
Date of Manufacture: 1990s
-
Materials: Hand-painted ceramic figures, carved wood retablo box, mirror
-
Overall Size: 22 ¼" W × 26" H × 1 ½" D
-
Mirror Size: 13 ½" × 16 ¾"
-
Condition: Excellent
-
Wear: Consistent with age; please refer to photographs
