THE MET "ST. XAVIER" CROSS OF THE ANDES CLUTCH

Black velvet clutch featuring an image of the jewel-encrusted "Crown of the Andes" (ca. 1660–1770) in The Met collection. Handcrafted in Colombia, the original crown once adorned a venerated sculpture of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception in Popayán. Among the most important surviving examples of goldsmith work from colonial Spanish America, it represents a distinctive artistic achievement in a region whose wealth derived from mining gold and emeralds 100% velvet+beading Dust bag included