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Rites of the World
Religious Ceremony of the Inhabitants of the Island of Hispaniola, 1734
Anno Domini MDCCXXXIV1734
£240
$315 · €280
Original print, not a reproduction
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- Date
- 1734
- Sheet size
- 16.5 × 10.2 in (42 × 26 cm)
- Condition
- Very good overall, with vibrant original hand-coloring and strong impression. Mild toning near the edges and a small crease to the upper right margin, far from the image. The plate retains wide margins and is printed on laid paper.
- Faith
- Indigenous Americas
- Collection
- Rites of the World
- Era
- 1700 to 1799, Mortier, Picart and the illustrated Bible
- Stock no.
- f_45048922
Religious ceremony of the people of Hispaniola, a hand-colored copperplate engraving of 1734 from Les Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde, by Bernard Picart (plate numbered 96 at the top). The title is lettered "Cérémonie Religieuse des Habitans de l'Isle Espagnolle".
The scene is set in front of a great arched hut or shelter whose dark interior holds golden idols on a raised stand. Priests or chiefs in feathered headdresses gather before them, and a drummer in the foreground beats a large drum while others kneel, sing or dance. A long procession of figures approaches in the middle distance at the left, and green hills rise behind. The color is applied in soft blues, reds, yellows and green.
Hispaniola was the first Spanish colony in the Americas, and Picart's picture draws on early written accounts of the Taíno there, interpreted through European conventions of theater and costume.
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