Monstrance, La Lechuga

1700-1707

Galaz, José de (goldsmith)

Bogotá, COL, Banco de la República (current location)

This monstrance, an elaborate work of craftsmanship, was made of gold, enamel, precious stones and jewels. It was meant to carry the consecrated Eucharistic host in the central compartment. In Colombia, where it was made, it was known as “The Lettuce” because it contains so many green emeralds, 1,485 of them from Colombia’s rich emerald deposits. It measures 31 ½ inches high (80 cm) and weighs nearly 11 pounds.

This monstrance is encrusted with 1,485 emeralds—one of the precious stones mined in Colombia in the colonial period and the present. Interspersed between the emeralds are hundreds of pearls and tiny amethyst beads. The amethysts have been worked to look like clusters of grapes—a reference to the Eucharistic rite. At the top of the monstrance, one can see how the craftsmen worked with beveled and circular stones as well as tiny drops of gold. Forming the stem of the monstrance, the angel appears to hoist the great nimbus above its head. It wears fluttering drapery that was common in early-18th century wooden sculptures from South America.

The craftsmen, José de Galaz, was a master gold-worker of Spanish descent who worked in Colombia. This piece was made for the Jesuit church of San Ignacio in Bogotá, Colombia and took seven years to complete.

In addition to gold working, the craftsman who made this monstrance, José de Galaz, used amethysts, emeralds, pearls, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and enameling—which can be seen in the bright blue sash the angel wears. An angel forms the stem of this monstrance; such figures were a frequent feature in 18th-century monstrances.

A Jesuit establishment originally commissioned this monstrance for the church of San Ignacio in Bogotá. The monstrance is well known in Colombia, reflected in its placement on a Colombian stamp in the l960s. The Jesuit order owned the piece until 1985, when they sold it to the Banco de la República of Colombia.

The extraordinary elegance of this monstrance suggests how wealthy Jesuit churches sought extravagant ritual objects as ways to honor their faith. Works like this would have appeared on altars laden with other silver and gold objects—from trays for the host to book stands and candlesticks.

Colección Banco de la República de Colombia, Casa de Moneda, Bogotá. Registro 3463. All rights reserved.

Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy.
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Colonial Monstrances. Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango. Banco de la República de Colombia. Colección de arte en línea.

Custodias Colonials. Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango. Banco de la República de Colombia. Colección de arte en línea.

Esteras Martín, Cristina. 2006. “Monstrance.” In The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820. J. J. Rishel with S. Stratton-Pruitt, eds. Pp. 206. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, and New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

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