Miguel Guerra was one of the most important silversmiths in Santiago de Guatemala in the last quater of the 18th century. He transferred his workshop to new capital after 1779. The influence of French forms and designs on works produced by the Guerra family, as well as by the Avila family, is clearly apparent in this example. Interestingly, the official contador Don Miguel Arnaiz reported in 1779 that "there [are] various silversmiths with public offices but rarely with the due formal training, excepting the trained masters Manuel of Avila and Miguel Guerra"(Quoted in Josefina Alonso de Rodriguez, El Arte de la Platería en la Capitania General de Guatemala, II, p. 135).