Petaca or Hide Traveling Chest

Southwest US to Central America

Late 18th to early 19th century | Hide, Wood, Wrought Iron | Item 2290

The Spanish word petaca, derives from the náhuatl petlacalli, a type of covered storage basket. Like Aztec petlacalli, the underlying structures of New Spanish petacas are woven like baskets. In imitation of chests imported from Spain, they are covered in leather and fitted with forged iron hardware. Local artisans in Mexico mastered Spanish leatherworking techniques and often adopted styles of ornamentation that were rooted in the Hispano-Islamic traditions of Andalucia.

Petacas were made for the safe storage and transport of valuables, especially clothing and other textiles. They frequently draw upon the same decorative repertory of human, animal, and floral motifs found in other luxury items made for domestic use in New Spain.

The petaca is associated with a category of artworks from Mexico linked to the tornaviaje, that is, the return voyage to Spain. This group includes not only New World exotica prized by European elites, but domestic furnishings and luxury goods that were taken to Spain for personal use by returning merchants, ecclesiastics and colonial officials.

By virtue of its use as a travel chest, the petaca is explicitly connected to the mobility of people and goods, not only within Mexico, but in the larger Spanish world. This richly decorated chest and the valuables it once held under the protection of lock and key exemplified the wealth of New Spain and signaled the economic and social status of the person who owned it.

The above written material has been taken from a specific Petaca held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.