10 1/4" Paper Mache Modern Maguey/Agave Plant Sculpture Mexican Folk Art

Mexican Paper Mache Maguey Sculpure

• Height- 10 1/4"
• Wide - 5 1/4"
• Stand- 4" x 4"

• Javier Bobadilla is a master artisan of paper mache and has won awards in Mexico.
  
• He lives in Mexico City.
• His work takes weeks or even months to create.
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• The maguey plant has an important role in Mexico’s history as well as its cuisine. Also known as the century plant, the maguey dates back to pre-Columbian Mexico and thrives in dry rocky or sandy soil. This plant of many uses was worshiped by the Aztecs and cultivated by Spaniards.
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• Though resembling a cactus, complete with thorny edges, the maguey is actually a member of the agave family – a cousin to the Tequila blue agave. Each plant will produce up to 50 leaves about 4” wide and up to 5 feet in length.
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• Once highly sought after for its fiber, maguey was integral in the making of carpets, hammocks and fishnets until the 1970’s when synthetics and other natural fibers took its place.
• Its strong fibrous threads were also used for piteado (a technique to embroider on leather), often woven into expensive saddles by Spanish artisans.
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• The leaves were also mashed into a paper for Aztec “codices,” pictorial books written to pass down their history. The ground, cooked pulp of the maguey leaves were blended with salt and applied to open wounds as a compress in Aztec culture; the sap has antibiotic properties which was also used to kill both staphylococcus aureaus and E. coli bacteria.