c. 1740-1760

Fragment from a Biombo: "Nothing Is Comparable to a True Friend"

Artist/maker unknown

This fragment is one of four from a Mexican biombo, or folding screen. Mexican artists modeled such screens on Japanese examples, which were introduced into New Spain in the late sixteenth century and became one of the most popular decorative art forms. Each panel of this biombo depicted a moral proverb from the book Theatro moral de la vida humana (Moral Theater of Human Life) by the Dutch artist Otto van Veen (c. 1556-1629), published in Spanish in 1669.

This particular fragment is based on a print from Van Veen's book and illustrates the proverb "Nothing is comparable to a true friend." The scene shows a man being guided away from a woman who offers him money and crowns by his "true" friend. It is meant to demonstrate that friendship is far more valuable than material wealth.