Bargueños & Baules

Bargueños were an important component of the luggage of the many dignitaries, priests, and friars to arrive New World. These traveling desks/offices could be compared to the first laptops and (they) were used as storage for important papers and valuables. Sometimes quite ornate, but most often very plain on the exterior, these (simple) boxes with personalized interiors were (quite) elegant additions to their new homes. The demand for these utilitarian yet elegant pieces of furniture meant that they were designed and produced in many different styles and using multiple techniques over the next four centuries in the Americas.