Mexican School. 19th century. Period: 1846 - 1864.

Mexican School. 19th century. Period: 1846 - 1864.
 
Interesting featherwork depicting the emblem of the coat of arms of Mexico which, alongside the flag and the national anthem, is one of the patriotic symbols enshrined in the law.  
It is interesting as the work was made after Mexico achieved Independence from Spain, declared on the 27th September 1821. 
The featherwork depicts an eagle with a snake perched on a cactus, and underneath is the Mexican flag. The coat of arms has been slightly modified, and the design we see here dates from the period in which the federalists returned and changed the eagle once again, between 1846 and 1864. 
28 x 21,5 cm.
When they arrived in Mexico, the Spanish were impressed with the importance the people there gave to the use of feathers. Hernán Cortés, in 1519, sent feathered fans, helmets and shields to Spain.
In 1524 he sent a present of a work of art made using featherwork to King Charles V, and later, in 1527, Cortés sent 38 featherwork pieces to Asia.
Evangelisation changed the subject matter of the art, and the “amantecas” (artists who worked with feathers) began to use this stunning technique to create religious images, many of which were sent to Europe and Asia.
Various examples were sent to different popes in Rome, who in turn gave them as presents to the nobility. This is the reason why some of these featherwork pieces can be found in important European museums.
One of the oldest pieces of featherwork art with a Christian theme is the “Mass of Saint Gregory, ” made in 1539 as a gift for Pope Paul II, and which is kept in the Musée des Jacobins de Auch, in France.
Another important piece, made by Juan Correa in the 19th century, “Saint Luke painting the Virgin”, can be found in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.
Furthermore, a few other examples have been preserved, the most noteworthy of which include those at the Archbishopric of Puebla, the Franz Mayer Museum, the Museo de América in Madrid, the Tepozotian Museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Museo Nacional de Colombia in Bogota.
The Museo de América in Madrid has thirteen examples of this marvellous featherwork art in its collections. To highlight the symbology and what they represented, there is no better guide than to quote what is said in the technical records of some of these pieces, in which they state:
“Feathers in the pre-hispanic world were directly linked to sacred symbology and with the prestige of those who were permitted to wear them. Quetzalcoatl, the great god who civilised the nahuatl culture, was the mythical master of the amantecas, the artists who congregated especially in the Amantla area of Mexico-Tenochtitlan and who worked with a wide variety of precious feathers. 
The understanding that the feather was an element of strong symbolic and religious content encouraged the Spanish missionaries to incorporate the expert amantecas within the convent schools, where, alongside the tlacuilos (painters) they learned to interpret European visual representations, and make subtle vestments for the priests of the new religion, and embellish many liturgical and devotional objects with the inclusion of the feather. They began production of small pictures which used Christian narratives as their subject matter, which they learnt about from the friars through the paintings and prints that they selected as models.”
Reference bibliography: Alessandra Russo, Gerhard Wolf and Diana Fane, "Images Take Flight. Feather Art in Mexico and Europe. 1400 - 1700". Hirmer, Munich, 2015.