Nicolás de Correa (c.1660 - c.1720) "Joseph’s dream, visited by the angel, under the oak of Mamre” “Enconchado”. Oil on wood panel inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Signed. 39 x 30,5 cm. A nephew of the painter Juan Correa, Nicolás specialised in painting and shell inlay. Nicolás de Correa and the González bros. workshop, were the greatest exponents of the genre. The Hispanic Society of America has The Wedding at Cana (Mexico, 1693), by Nicolás Correa in its collection, executed with the shell inlay technique. His work can also be found in other museums. This form of art was exclusive to Mexico, and combines fragments of mother of pearl with oil painting, thus creating magnificent nuances and play with light. The shell inlay technique originated in the Far East and was quickly adopted in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, due to the presence of artisans and objects from China and Japan, maturing artistically in the New-Hispanic environment over the last decades of the 17th century and the first of the 18th. As with the feathered paintings, Mexican lacquers, maize cane sculptures or screens, shell inlay pictures became prized objets d’art, collected by widespread public and clients, both in New Spain and in the Iberian Peninsula.