Featured A carved Spanish coconut from 1778

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to find out a bit more information about this carved coconut, which has Spanish carved into it. You can see what is written, which is a little tricky to make out, but based on a bit of discussion among linguists, it reads:

De un lyryo soy esclavo desde oy. Año de 1778.​

Or in more modern Spanish:

De un lirio soy esclavo desde hoy. Año de 1778.​

English:

Of a lily I am the slave as from today. Year 1778.​

That flag at the very beginning is an old Spanish flag.

I'm fairly sure that the flowers on the door are likely to be lilies, to reinforce the message.

My assumption is that this is most likely a poetic declaration of devotion. Maybe a Spanish sailor pining for his love back home. Maybe a bridal gift, or even celebrating the birth of a daughter? It's difficult to know exactly, but it's fun to imagine.

I have been hunting around and I'm struggling to find anything quite like it. I've found a number of coconuts carved as simple animals, and some carved by American and British sailors, who had travelled to West Africa or the Caribbean.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this object, or know where I could find out more about where it might have come from?

All I know is that it came from the estate of a rare book collector, and was gifted to my grandmother, whose name was Lily. She never even knew that the text was in Spanish - she always thought it was because she had commented on how much she liked it. Although I have a suspicion that maybe the man who gave it to her might have. Otherwise, it was an incredible coincidence!

 

Wonderful piece.

 

Welcome Stephen.

I agree.
It is beautiful, very good quality too. What is behind the little door, would it have held an engagement ring maybe? Looks like there was once a hook that went around the knob, to hold the door in place. Love the hinges too.

 

You're right - the hinges look like flowers, so I would guess they were made specially for it. I suspect that the latch must have matched, but that must have gone missing many years ago, although maybe its presence caused that split. Inside, there is only the hollow interior of the coconut, but I do like the idea that maybe it was originally intended to hold something such as a ring, as part of a proposal.

Scrimshaw was often very elaborate, but at the same time, I do wonder whether it might have been commissioned, given that the hinges were probably made to match.

 

That is surely something!

 

How fascinating. I've never seen one of those before (that I can remember.) Here's another I found on a Spanish online auction site example on silver legs. From Alta Peru according to seller.

Debora

 

This one's said to be Guatemalan.

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/o...oconut-money-box-with-silver-mounts-alcancia/


Debora

 

Do you have a photograph of the Spanish flag to post?

Debora

 

It is the one with the St Andrew's Cross or Cross of Burgundy just before the word 'De'.

 

Like this one, introduced from Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands by our Charles V, Spain's Carlos I:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Burgundy

 

Oh, thank you. Subtle. Missed it entirely.

Debora

 

Flag of the Spanish Viceroyalties.

Debora

 

This one is also inscribed. "Syo de Casilda Murito."

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/36138549_spanish-colonial-silver-mounted-coconut-money-box

A number more are to be found on the site above.

Debora

 

That one seems to have a similar concept with the door. Maybe this was also intended to be a money box?

The text is interesting though. On the one you found, it says "I belong to Casilda Murito". Could the phrasing of this one indicate a similar theme of declaring who owns it? That the container is "the slave of a lily"?

 

Could certainly be, although the other option is far more romantic.

 

Interesting - a couple of the flowers on the side of that one are very similar. And some of the other stylings seem a bit similar - the zigzag stitching for example. The same carver perhaps? Or just a popular style of the time?

 

Oh yes! I far prefer the romantic story!

 

I am just curious and have no information to give like my esteemed colleagues, Debora and AJ. Does the underside of your piece show evidence of being mounted at one time?

 

That’s a real work of Art!

I see a hole next to the door, maybe yours had a latch at some point?

 

I should add a few more photos from different angles - I'll have to do that when I'm back home again in a few days. However, to answer your question, as far as I can tell, there is no evidence of it being mounted. My mum has always had it sitting on the fatter end, in a little wooden plastic holder. So assuming it used to have some kind of seating, it wasn't mounted on to it - it just sat loose in it. All sides of it are carved, so there's not really any obvious place that it would sit.