Lot 290

Mexican Colonial San Miguel Arcángel Bulto, Glass Eyes, ex-Holler & Saunders

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Lot 290
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Mexican Colonial San Miguel Arcángel Bulto, Glass Eyes, ex-Holler & Saunders
Mexican Colonial San Miguel Arcángel Bulto, Glass Eyes, ex-Holler & Saunders
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Mexican Colonial San Miguel Arcángel Bulto, Glass Eyes, ex-Holler & Saunders

Estimate: $6,000 - $9,000

Starting Bid: $3,000

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
June 11, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Spanish Colonial, Mexico., ca. 1700 - 1799 CE. A polychrome and gessoed wood bulto of Saint Michael the Archangel, animated with the kinetic energy that distinguishes the finest colonial Mexican sacred sculpture from its more static European counterparts. The archangel strides forward in a posture of militant authority, right arm raised to deliver a blow with his sword, the left extended outward holding what appears to be a scepter or baton, the whole figure caught in mid-action as though the battle against Lucifer is not a past event but an eternal present tense. The face is finely carved, serene yet purposeful, with inset glass eyes that lend an unsettling vitality to the figure, their dark pupils meeting the viewer with the steady gaze of a commander who has already decided the outcome. Wavy auburn hair falls to the shoulders beneath a painted blue-green Roman helmet crowned with a dramatic crest of flared, flame-like projections, gold-painted and radiating upward like a corona of divine fire. Size: 10.10" L x 10.8" W x 22.1" H (25.7 cm x 27.4 cm x 56.1 cm)

The breastplate is rendered in deep slate blue with gilt borders, its surface bearing the sun and moon in tandem, that ancient cosmological pairing that in the colonial iconographic tradition signaled dominion over the entire created order, heavenly and earthly alike. Worn over layered skirts and billowing breeches in ochre, rose, and green, the hems accented with red and gold, the costume is an exuberant synthesis of Roman military dress and the colonial imagination's vision of celestial warfare. The multicolored wings spread behind him, feathers articulated in green, ochre, pink, and gold, carved with a virtuosity that makes them seem capable of actual flight. The figure stands on an integral oval base set into a painted stepped plinth decorated with scrolling foliate ornament in gold on a terracotta and black ground, the base itself a small masterwork of the colonial decorative vocabulary.

Michael is the warrior prince of the heavenly host, named in the books of Daniel, Jude, and Revelation, cast in Christian tradition as the angel who expelled Satan from heaven, who weighs souls at the Last Judgment, and who serves as the special protector of the Church. In colonial Mexico his cult was paramount among the archangels, his image appearing in every register of devotional life from cathedral altarpieces to village church niches to private home oratories. The sun and moon on his breastplate carry particular resonance in the colonial Mexican context, where indigenous cosmological symbolism and Catholic iconography met and merged with a fluency that produced some of the most visually inventive sacred art in the Western tradition. The bulto, a fully three-dimensional carved and painted wooden figure, was the primary vehicle of sculptural devotion in New Spain, produced by skilled workshops whose names are largely lost to history but whose hands speak clearly in the quality of carving and the boldness of polychrome that survives. A figure of this ambition and preservation, retaining its original gesso, substantial polychrome, and glass eyes across three centuries, represents precisely the kind of colonial sacred sculpture that serious collections are built around.

Provenance: private collection of S. Saunders, Nogales Arizona, USA collection

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Item # 201777

  • Condition: Wings and proper left arm have been reattached. Chipping and losses to pigment and gesso in areas. Retouching to sword and helmet. Expected weathering to surface as shown. Otherwise, excellent presentation with great remaining pigments and rich patina. Helmet, sword, and spear are all detachable

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $749 $25
$750 $1,499 $50
$1,500 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $7,499 $250
$7,500 $14,999 $500
$15,000 + $1,000