80 The sculpture of the crucified Christ The light weight crucifixes from “New Spain”, Mexico Investigation of the crucifix reveals the body was constructed by an assemblage of maize stems, a technique only to be found in Mexican art, shedding light on the early Christian sculpture production of the Spanishdominated Americas. Soon after the conquest of Hernan Cortez (1521) and with the ongoing Christianisation, the local production of religious sculptures started to meet the high demand of religious images for newly built churches and monasteries. It is assumed that Spanish artists adopted the technique of working with maize stalks and paste from the natives. The large number of surviving sculptures and the fact that some types are identical in size and design suggest serial production, in which negative molds were used for the heads in particular.62 The high number of similar sculptures still preserved in Mexico and the more than 100 crucifixi of that type and material in Spain allows to confirm that this crucifix is a very early import to Croatia, providing insights into early travel of Dubrovnik shipmen and traders to Mexico or close contact to Spain. Fig. 125: Crucifix Puebla/Mexico (foto by Pablo F. Amador Marrero in the rooms of Museum Amparo/ Puebla) Fig. 126: Crucifix Lopud; after treatment
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