A new show provides an enchanting glimpse into the Estrado, the opulent but hidden world of Spain’s elite

For New Yorkers looking for a dose of escapism, a trip to the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in Washington Heights is recommended “A room of one’s own: the Estrado and the Spanish world” might be exactly what you’re looking for. This compelling exhibition focuses on the estrado, a private salon for women that was once found in the homes of the elite in Spain and Spanish America. A space of both opulence and confinement, the estrado is today embroiled in complex notions of gender, cultural exchange, colonialism and power.

The estrado was an important aspect of domestic life for hundreds of years until the 19th century and was often the place where a family’s most prized possessions were displayed, and where women could socialize, raise their children and pursue hobbies as bobbin lace and needlework. Yet it remains an overlooked and underexposed topic.

Items such as an ivory-inlaid chest (back), a cobalt-colored cup (left), a tray with bobbin lace decoration (right), and a glass bottle (foreground) would fill an estrado.

Alfonso Lozano. Courtesy of the Hispanic Society Museum and Library, New York.

“This is the first exhibition of its kind on this subject, which was so shocking to me,” said Alexandra Frantischek Rodriguez-Jack, curator of the exhibition. She spent years studying period documents, including dowries, letters, post-mortem inventories, travel documents and literature, to find mentions of the estrado and its equipment.

With these historical references in mind, Rodriguez-Jack selected more than 60 exquisite items from the Hispanic Society’s vast permanent collection, many of which were on display for the first time. The show is set in the enchanting atmosphere of the museum terracotta arcadewhich gives the exhibits – red velvet cushions, walnut chests with ivory inlays, silver mate cups and crucifixes studded with precious stones, for example – a touch of grandeur that an estrado itself might have had. (The museum, founded in 1904 by art collector and railroad scion Archer Milton Huntington, reopened last year after a six-year, $20 million renovation.) “Everything is here for a reason, and that’s because the description is very similar to something that would have been in the estrado based on these inventories,” says Rodriguez-Jack.