Sep 28, 2017 - Sale 2455

Sale 2455 - Lot 310

Price Realized: $ 5,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(MEXICO.) Blood purity questionnaire form completed for a Mexican woman. 2 printed pages on one sheet, 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, completed in manuscript; disbound, minor wear and tasteful repairs to edges. Mexico, circa 1570-90?
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Additional Details

A formal examination of the blood purity of a Mexican woman. This series of questions was somewhat standard throughout 16th-century Mexico, but usually in manuscript. We believe this form to be printed in Mexico, probably before 1600. The University of Illinois holds a similar form which they credit to Mexican printer Pedro Balli between 1580 and 1590, but the wording is identical to the form transcribed in Ramírez, "Grupos de poder clerical en las universidades hispánicas" (pages 285-6) which was apparently submitted in 1572.
The present example was completed for Maria Lopez de Esquivel, a native of Seville and wife of Alonso Martinez Ortiguilla of Mexico. The first printed line reads "Por las preguntas siguientes, sean preguntados los testigos que se an de exami-/nar para averiguacion de la limpieza de." Question 7 asks if Maria has any descent from Jews, Muslims, or recent converts ("descendencia de Iudios, Moros, ni Conversos") and Question 8 whether the family had been up before the Inquisition.