This essay reunites a diverse corpus of portable devotional objects likely created around the late sixteenth century which feature minute wooden carvings set against grounds of brightly coloured hummingbird feathers. While the Christological narratives that they commonly depict reveal clear links to the artistic traditions of Western Europe, the plumage that they sport is derived from a family of birds endemic to the Americas. This juxtaposition has inspired the scholars who address them to focus all but exclusively on determining their provenance. Yet their composite nature undermines simplistic notions of origin by suggesting the pathways that they travelled in the early modern world: while the carvings themselves were likely produced by Indigenous artists in central Mexico, the metal cases sported by several examples were made in Europe. After surveying the corpus and its place in previous scholarship, this essay turns to an examination of their reception by elite European audiences. It argues that such viewers drew formal and theological connections between the materials and iconography of these objects that greatly enhanced their potential to serve as effective tools for private devotion.

中文翻译：

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神性：现代早期世界的羽毛微雕

这篇文章重新组合了可能在 16 世纪后期创建的各种便携式灵修物品，这些物品的特点是微小的木雕，背景是色彩鲜艳的蜂鸟羽毛。虽然他们通常描绘的基督论叙述与西欧的艺术传统有着明显的联系，但他们所穿的羽毛来自美洲特有的鸟类家族。这种并置激发了对他们讲话的学者们，他们几乎完全专注于确定他们的出处。然而，它们的复合性质通过暗示他们在早期现代世界中旅行的路径来破坏简单的起源概念：虽然雕刻本身很可能是由墨西哥中部的土著艺术家制作的，但几个例子所展示的金属外壳是在欧洲制造的。在调查了语料库及其在以前的学术研究中的地位之后，本文转而考察欧洲精英观众对它们的接受程度。它认为，这些观众在这些物品的材料和图像之间建立了正式的神学联系，极大地增强了它们作为私人奉献的有效工具的潜力。