If any scene of the infancy of Christ developed in the figurative arts in the West, it was that of the Epiphany, because of its significance as a manifestation of Jesus making himself known. Before the parades became popular in the 20th century, the reliefs and paintings of the Adoration of the Kings, present in cloisters, doorways and altarpieces of the temples, took on special significance and projection in the Christmas celebrations. The word, glossing the Gospel of St. Matthew, and those images were associated, in perfect harmony, to show before the faithful the manifestation of Christ to the whole world, signified before those singular adorers.

The primitive clothing of the magicians was showy and colorful, typical of the priests and wise men of the East: later, in the centuries of the Romanesque period, it became simpler, while their headdress was replaced by the royal crown. In this regard, it should be noted that the concept of magician had acquired a pejorative tone, equating to that of sorcerer, and they wanted to dignify their image by attributing to them a royal position. In the art of the centuries of the Modern Age, the Magi appear on horseback, with beautiful processions, dressed as Western monarchs, with ermine and rich cloaks, accompanied by crowns and scepters. The three kings were associated for some time with the three known continents, although they were also related to the three ages of man.

Crowns, jewels, scepters and royal attire

A set of rich pieces will distinguish the Magi in their representations in the figurative arts. Their clothing contrasts with the timeless costumes of shepherds and other protagonists of the scenes of the birth and infancy of Christ. Elegant brocade and damask robes, cloaks often lined with ermine, bands, buttons, belts, stockings and other colorful garments always catch the eye in their representations. The ermine, so widespread in the cloaks and mucetas, symbolizes purity and chastity and is an attribute of touch in the allegorical representation of the five senses. In the 15th century, we can find carefully chosen costumes and even courtly headdresses, as we can see in the altarpieces of Santa Catalina and the Virgen de la Esperanza in the chapel of the Villaespesa family in the cathedral of Tudela.

The crowns, alone or on colorful turbans, stand out for the golden gleams of their metals. Sometimes, rich gemstones enrich them even more. Often they are girded on the head, at other times they have already been removed, depositing them on the floor of the portal of Bethlehem or in the hands of their pages. In any case, they are always transmitters of the dignity, honor and authority of their wearers, although typologically they do not adapt to the characteristic royal crowns, but mix elements of other types of noble crowns.

Brooches, necklaces and even veneras are also part of their adornment as monarchs in order to extol their position and rank. Sometimes they wear scepters, as attributes of power. More exceptionally, they may carry swords that allude to justice, a virtue par excellence attributed to monarchs in literature and the visual arts.

Rich containers for gold, frankincense and myrrh

The gifts of the Magi are associated with the Child King (gold), God (frankincense) and prophet (myrrh). This is the most generalized interpretation, although there are others, such as that of St. Bernard, who points out, in a more prosaic way, that the gold was destined to help the poverty of the Virgin, the incense to eliminate the bad smell of the stable, and the myrrh to deworm the Child, ridding him of insects and worms. The bishop-viceroy Juan de Palafox interprets them as follows: "They offered him gold, incense and myrrh and the Child God gave him charity for the gold, an instant and fervent prayer for the incense and the virtue of mortification for the myrrh". The gifts are contained in the representations of the Epiphany in rich recipients, generally sacred arks and vessels.

Gothic and Renaissance painting in Navarre, more than the rest of the figurative arts, presents models of chalices, ciboria and chests, where the Magi deposit their gifts, made with very elegant designs, generally from engravings. Naturally, the different examples adapt to the typologies and models of both periods.

Large gilded and filigree cups with pinnacles of ogival architecture show some works, such as the Epiphany of the altarpiece of the Villaespesa chapel of the cathedral of Tudela, work of Bonanat Zahortiga (1412) and the main altarpiece of the same temple, work of the late fifteenth century by Pedro Díaz de Oviedo. Throughout the first third of the 16th century the late Gothic models still remain, as can be seen in the Adorations of the Kings of the altarpiece of the Caparroso family in the cathedral of Pamplona (1507) or in the main altarpiece of Huarte-Pamplona, the work of Juan de Bustamante (1535).

The Renaissance models with goblets of gallons became popular in the reliefs of the altarpieces of the second third of the 16th century and throughout the last years of that century we find outstanding mannerist models in the main altarpieces of the monasteries of La Oliva and Fitero, works of Rolan Mois. In both cases Melchior brings the gold in a beautiful triple-covered chest, Gaspar offers the incense in a cup without foot, while Balthasar holds a very elegant rock crystal vessel for the myrrh. The royal personages and their retinue conform to what was requested of the painter in the contract signed in 1590, in which it was demanded "that the figures be as natural as sample in the traça ..... all the painting must be in oil and of very perfect and fine colors and all of good grace".

A cup of design mannerist with facing masks can be seen in the Epiphany of the altarpiece of the Assumption of the aforementioned monastery of Fitero, probably a copy of prints from Fontainebleau.

The arrival of naturalism in the seventeenth century seems to have forgotten in sculptures and paintings the interest in those marvels of goldsmithing, more typical of large palatial tables. In 1650 signature an Epiphany of great dimensions the painter Lucas Pinedo that the Poor Clares of Olite conserve and comes from the monastery of Santa Engracia of the capital of Navarre. Its composition is based on the well-known Rubenian print by Luc Vosterman. In an atmosphere still tenebrist, the rich clothes of the magicians stand out, as well as the cup of gold of Melchior, an authentic censer with its chains for the incense of Gaspar and a delicate arquilla for the myrrh of Balthazar.

The alms chalices

In relation to these rich recipients for the gifts and the feast of the Epiphany, we must mention the alms chalices that are preserved among the liturgical furnishings of churches and convents. Their origin is related to the palatine label of the House of Burgundy, established in Spain by Charles I. According to documentation from the time of Philip IV, on Epiphany, a ceremony was held in the Royal Chapel since the time of the emperor. The text says: "The emperor Charles V, offered three chalices of gilded silver in the mass on Epiphany day, all three of a hundred ducats of a little more or less value, one had a gold coin, the other incense and the third wax, and they were given by hand by the Mayordomo Mayor in his presence, and in his absence or lack of the weekly, or some lord of those who were there if his Majesty commanded it...". At the end of the mass, the monarch gave them as alms to different churches that had requested them or to those of his particular interest or devotion.

In the parishes of Legasa (1647), Solchaga (1776) and Morentin (1777) and in the Carmelitas Descalzas de Pamplona (1744) and Dominicas de Tudela (1749), there are very elegant alms chalices. In general, it was the Patriarch of the Indies, as chaplain of the Royal House and major almoner, who could influence the destiny of the chalices used in the mentioned ceremony. The friendship or knowledge of people of the Royal Chapel of those Navarrese localities and the belonging of some members to the same institution could have facilitated the arrival of all those pieces to Navarre. The mentioned examples have the corresponding registration that guarantees their origin with the names of the Patriarch and the dates and they are all elegant and well cared for pieces design.

An exceptional showcase in Recoletas de Pamplona

Showcases are defined in the Diccionario de Autoridades (1732) as "jewels made in the manner of a cupboard or closet with doors and shelves inside to store jewelery, fine clay and other delicate things, which are widely used by women in their sitting rooms to keep their charms". They were an inseparable and singular part of Spanish noble interiors. This is reflected in 1690 by Baroness de Aulnoy in her Relation d'un voyage en Espagne, who enthusiastically describes the Spanish showcases as "a kind of little cabinet closed with a large crystal and full of everything that is possible to imagine of the rarest", being these "the most beautiful thing I have found there [in Spain]".

It is a tradition in some religious houses that in other times, in general until the first decades of the twentieth century, when there was still enough time, there were nuns specialized in that subject of works: small chapels, cells, conventinos, miniature reproduction of refectories, choirs and even oratories. The recipients of all these works of the nuns were their relatives or benefactors.

In the Recoletas de Pamplona chapter house conference room there are some showcases made by the nuns, with heads and hands of the figures made from molds. Among them is the Adoration of the Kings, inventoried in 1731. The set of the Epiphany should perhaps be considered as a reduction of the scene of the Adoration of the Magi with their procession, of the great nativity scene that has been kept since the 17th century in the cloister of the aforementioned nuns. The exact date of its realization is not far from its inclusion in the inventory mentioned above. The artist who made the molds of the set, most likely an Italian or French artist, worked on other similar models, such as the bell with the same topic of the Adoration of the Kings, from the Museum of the Incarnation of Corella, from the Discalced Carmelites of Araceli in the same town in Navarre.

As in the large or monumental nativity scene of the same nuns, the Child Jesus appears seated on the lap of his mother, the Virgin Mary, who appears as an authentic throne or sedes sapientiae. Until the day of the Epiphany, the newborn appeared wrapped and in a manger to receive the adoration of the rustics and shepherds, but for the day of his manifestation or of the Epiphany, he was placed in an armchair or throne or in his mother's lap, to receive the great ones of the earth -signified in the Magi- as an authentic King of Kings.