Retablo · folding box with a nativity scene

A small folding box with two painted wing doors: red with white blossoms outside, blue inside — and within it a nativity scene made of tiny clay figures.

The form comes from Latin America, above all from Peru and Mexico: a portable shrine you fold shut and carry with you. Originally traders took them from village to village; later they became souvenirs and folk art. The box is hand-painted inside and out, the figures are shaped individually and set into the niche.

The blossom patterns on the doors are drawn with a brush, not stencilled — the leaves differ in length, and that is exactly what makes them worth looking at. Inside, the ground is a strong blue so that the pale figures stand out against it.

• Folding box with two wing doors
• Red with a blossom pattern outside, blue inside
• Nativity scene in clay figures
• Hand-painted
• Free-standing, folds shut
• No signature, no stated origin

Good. The painting is complete and fresh in colour, the doors close. The figures sit firmly in the niche, none is broken. Light storage marks along the edges.