Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2016

  • Work on this object began.

2018

2019

2025

  • You found it!

Console, Black Hawk Console

This is a console. It was designed by Gloria Cortina. It is dated 2016. Its medium is cochineal lacquer, wood, bronze, black obsidian. It is a part of the department.

While the streamlined curves of this console reference the design aesthetic of modern French opulence and glamour popular in the early 20th century, Black Hawk serves an homage to the perception of luxury in the Aztec Empire. Prior to European contact, the Aztec court administered a complex tribute system whereby indigenous subjects supplied the emperor with a variety of coveted and labor-intensive goods, among them cochineal and bird feathers. The cochineal-lacquered surface alludes to the 20 bags of cochineal paid every 3 months and the central panel designed in a stylized feather pattern references the hundreds of feathers regularly given to the empire to create elaborate feather works for ceremonial paraphernalia and royal garb.

It is credited Gift of Cristina Grajales Gallery and Gloria Cortina.

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 92.7 × 140 × 34.9 cm (36 1/2 × 55 1/8 × 13 3/4 in.)

Cite this object as

Console, Black Hawk Console; Designed by Gloria Cortina (Mexican, Born 1972); cochineal lacquer, wood, bronze, black obsidian; H x W x D: 92.7 × 140 × 34.9 cm (36 1/2 × 55 1/8 × 13 3/4 in.); Gift of Cristina Grajales Gallery and Gloria Cortina; 2019-8-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Nature by Design: Cochineal.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318793610/ |title=Console, Black Hawk Console |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=8 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>