an idealised scale reduction in plaster relief representing one of the lateral arches in the Hall of the Ambassadors, intricately patterned with foliate arabesques, strapwork and calligraphy including the repeated Nasrid motto 'There is no greater conqueror than Allah' (Wala ghaliba illa Allah), with polychromed 'tiles' and alabaster column and lining to the base and velvet backing to the window, in its original rectangular wood frame with label to reverse 'MODELO DE LOS GRANDES ARCOS LATERALES DE LA SALA DE COMARES... Reduccion hecho por CONTRERAS, restaurador de la Alhambra...', 63 x 37.5cm excluding frame 2.5cm wide

Rafael Contreras Muñoz (1826-1890), the pre-eminent figure of the 19th century restoration of the Alhambra, was appointed its ‘restaurador adornista’ in 1847. As well as overseeing the works to the palace complex, he ran a workshop with his brother, Francisco Contreras Muñoz, producing models in a variety of media of the decoration found in the Nasrid buildings. These proved highly popular with early visitors, contributing to a spreading fashion for ‘Alhambrism’. In 1868 the travel writer H. Pemberton published the recommendation: ‘Señor Contreras has a studio which was well worth visiting; he has blocks of the Moorish work, exact copies, in miniature, of various parts of the Alhambra Palace, both plain and coloured. They vary in size from eight to twenty inches, and in price from ten to forty dollars. We brought one or two of them to England, thinking they would look well inserted in a wall’ (H. Pemberton, ‘A Winter Tour in Spain’, London, 1868, p.222). A larger gilded version of the same arch is displayed in the British Galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Room 125C, Accession No.REPRO.1890-52).