presepio figure, Balthazar the Magus

presepio figure, Balthazar the Magus , circa 1770

Where object was made: Naples, Italy

Material/technique: paint; velvet; silk; terracotta; wood

Dimensions:
Object Height (Height): 35.6 cm
Object Height (Height): 14 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 0000.1873

Not on display

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Civic Leader and Art Collector: Sallie Casey Thayer and an Art Museum for KU

This figure, identified as Balthazar the Magus, reflects 18th-century Neapolitan taste for clothing associated with distant cultures. As a port city, traders would have brought goods from North Africa through Naples, and the artists who created costumes for Magi capitalized on the demand for orientalist-tinged visions of people from other countries.