Mexican wax sculptures (Indio Bravo, Tlachiquero, Native American saleswoman)

Bibliography: Vite Straordinarie. Arte tra viaggio ed esplorazione, exhibition catalogue edited by G. Berardi (Rome, Galleria Berardi, 27 October – 24 November 2022), pp. 24, 29, 31.

The wax figurines from the collection of Zaverio Calpini (19th century)

In 19th-century Mexico, a very unique form of artistic production emerged: popular wax figurines. Their uniqueness lies in three aspects: the technical aspect of using wax as a raw material; the popular theme, which is closely related to the romantic currents of the time; and their location, since the vast majority of them are found abroad.

Throughout the 19th century, there are frequent references by national writers praising the skill of the artisans who made these sculptures, which were exhibited in international markets and became an export product along with the goods transported by ships from to Hamburg, London, Bordeaux and New York, such as cochineal, vanilla, pepper and, above all, silver; but also as luggage for travellers or foreigners residing in Mexico who returned to their native countries and used them as souvenirs of their stay.

This is the case with the waxes in the collection of Zaverio Calpini, who assembled an important collection of pre-colonial objects and an extensive collection of wax figures illustrating the wide rangesocial spectrum of the Mexican population at the time.

There are three distinct groups in the collection. The first includes five well-crafted sculptures, very similar to the works of Andrés López. One of these is the Water carrier, with his classic leather apron and enormous clay amphora on his back for carrying water. Another city character is the Porter, who has a package at his feet and also wears an apron and leather trousers. The third figure is that of a Native American woman offering the products of the countryside around the city, with her “shawl” tied in front to carry her child on her shoulders. This selection of characters would not be complete without the Tlachiquero, the name given to those who extract mead from agave, which ferments to produce pulque, a pre-colonial drink that is very popular in Mexico.

The second group consists of three sculptures made of fabric and wax. They represent the Bravos Indians of the north, with their facial decorations and tattoos, their suede clothes, or half-naked with very expressive poses. The third group consists of three vendors carrying wooden baskets on their backs with various products for sale, and a woman with a wicker basket on her head, probably representing a coastal inhabitant. The charm of these figures lies in their invaluable testimony, which, through sculpture in the round, conveys the diversity of types (in clothing, physiognomy and occupations) that animated daily life in independent Mexico.

María José Esparza Liberal

Archaeology and ethnography in a Mexican collection

We can only imagine the intense emotions stirred in a 28-year-old man who, after days of ocean sailing, landed in a Mexican port around the middle of the 11th century.   Zaverio Calpini, born in 1820 in Vanzone (now in the Piedmont province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola), had decided with his brothers Giovanni and Francesco to leave their small native village,

nestled in the pristine alpine beauty of the Anzasca Valley, to start a commercial enterprise on the other side of the ocean, the Calpini Industrial Company, founded in 1848 and dedicated mainly to the sale of optical instruments imported from Europe. It was a successful venture, which within a few years brought the Calpini family, and Zaverio in particular, enviable status and respectability.

Calpini became a prominent figure, partly due to his social and civic commitment: in 1850, he and his brother were among the founders of the Charitable Society, and in 1861 he received the Gold Medal for Civil Valour from the republican government of Benito Juárez. Calpini’s long stay in Mexico was interrupted by returns to his homeland, such as when he married Marietta Pirazzi in 1852: on his return, he took on the role of honorary consul of Piedmont. This position gave him the opportunity to rub shoulders with the authorities and, we imagine, the Mexican cultural elite, but also, particularly during the Second War of Intervention (1861-1867), the French elite, together with members of the scientific commission sent by Napoleon III to document local culture and history (Taladoire 2017). This, combined with the network of relationships he had built up through his commercial activities (from Mexico City to Guadalajara to Veracruz), gave him access to a thriving market in herpetological and mineralogical finds, but above all in archaeological and ethnographic artefacts, which he began to collect in a significant collection. While it is possible that his initial impulse to purchase these objects was born out of commercial purposes, over time other, higher dynamics certainly came into play. It was in fact upon his definitive return to his homeland in 1867 that Calpini linked his name to two Piedmontese museums through two donations: in 1876, an important collection of pre-Columbian art to the Civic Museum of Turin and, in 1889, a group of archaeological and ethnographic artefacts to the Civic Museumin Domodossola (G.G. Galletti Civic Museums). The latter bequest is of particular interest to us, asit includes a series of realistic wax figurines that capture, in rich detail, a valuable repertoire of Mexican types, crafts and customs, combining anthropological insights and folklore.

Calpini’s purchases appear to be the result of a cultural awareness and openness that fits well with the solid image that the entrepreneur built for himself abroad and at home: already a Knight of the Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in 1867, he held the office of Mayor of Vanzone for three terms, until 1886, enjoying a level of comfort that allowed him to build a large stately home as his residence; in the 1870s, he became a supporter of the construction of the Ossola railway and later of the Simplon Tunnel project (1906). He was therefore a skilled entrepreneur and politician, but he was also a man of culture who, from the limited perspective of his own local community – albeit one rich in connections and relationships – chose to link his name to institutions born out of international debate that aimed to merge local, national and non-European history into the broader horizon of human history.

Eugenia Querci