**Originally Listed At $600**
New World, Mexico, Spanish Colonial style, ca. 19th century CE. A hand-carved wooden santo of a praying woman, depicted on her knees with her hands held close together at her chest. She wears a pink, blue, and green dress, with a white veil over her hair. She kneels on a green pedestal. A worshipper has placed a modern wooden cross on a stainless steel chain around her neck. Size: 7" L x 5.5" W x 18.75" H (17.8 cm x 14 cm x 47.6 cm)
Santos played an important role in bringing the Catholic Church to the New World with the Spanish colonists. These religious figures were hand-carved and often furnished with crowns, jewels, and other accessories, usually funded by religious devotees, and were used as icons to explain the major figures - Mary, Christ, and the saints - to new, indigenous converts. Likewise, they served as a connection to the Old World for Spanish colonists far from home. They became a folk art tradition in the Spanish New World, from modern day Guatemala to as far north as New Mexico and Colorado. Many of them were lovingly cared for over the years, with repairs and paint added as they aged, and played an active part for a long time in the religious life of their communities.
Provenance: private Francis & Lilly Robicsek Collection, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, acquired second half of the 20th century
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#120425
Condition
Small areas of inactive insect damage. Cracks on surface with extensive overpainting. One arm seems to have an old repair that has been fully covered with paint; the neck also seems to be similarly repaired but it is difficult to see through the paint.