Petaca (traveling trunk)
NameTrunk
Artist
Artist Not Recorded
Dateca. late 18th to early 19th century
Place collectedNew Mexico, United States, North America
MediumRawhide, elk skin (?), pine wood, Manchester cloth, wool, indigo dye, cochineal dye, iron
DimensionsOverall: 17 11/16 x 24 x 16 15/16 in. (45 x 61 x 43 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Historical Society of New Mexico
Object numberA5.1960.6
DescriptionExterior of rawhide, interior of well-tanned buck or elk skin. Between these are hand-shaped, thin pieces of pine forming the box walls. Rawhide lacings forming panels, borders and diamonds and filled with colored fabric background behind the lacings provide an effect of colored tiles or mosaic. Many such trunks had the imported english cloth commonly called "Manchester" in the panels. This example has red Manchester cloth in some parts of the design. In others it contains brown panels of natural dark brown, handspun wool, woven in diagonal twill. The ends had indigo dyed handspun wool, also worked in diagonal twill, alternating wirth diamonds of turpuoise blue and dull yellow cotton damask. Lid had the red cloth, imported, and indigo wool units. All of this is now lost except shreds held in place under the hide lacings. Ends of ties of cochineal colored wool are visible. These may have been for tassels or perhaps were for functional ties. Iron scutcheon, plain, circular appears to be locally made and old. Vandalism in the Palace about 1958 forcibly removed the original hasp for souvenir purposes. It has been replaced by a handwrought hasp of local blacksmith making of the snd half of the 19th century. The present nails holding on the hinges are also, apparently,a later replacement but when this was done is not known.
