19th C. Mexican Wood Santo - St. Rita of Cascia

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Fine Ethnographic / Asian / Ancient Art

By Artemis Gallery

May 10, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-05-10 10:00:00 2018-05-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Ethnographic / Asian / Ancient Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fine-ethnographic-asian-ancient-art-3213
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• Lot Description
  New World, Spanish Colonial period, ca. 19th century CE. A charming santo depicting a standing Santa Rita, dressed in a red-trimmed black nun's habit, with her hands outstretched before her. She once would have held a skull as a memento mori atop a Gospel book in one hand and a silver staff in the other, which are her attributes, but those are lost to time and more recent worshippers have placed a tin heart in one hand and tin flowers in the other. She has an elegant hammered silver halo. Santa Rita of Cascia (1381 to 1457) was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun, canonized in 1900, and known as the "Patroness of Improbable Causes". She is also the patroness of women who have suffered domestic violence. Size: 5.75" L x 5.5" W x 16.25" H (14.6 cm x 14 cm x 41.3 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: ex private Francis & Lilly Robicsek collection, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #120423

  Condition

  Craquelure and small areas of loss to the paint as shown. Crown has slight bending and metal patina. Traces of wax to stabilize accessories. The accessories she is holding are not contemporary to the figure and were added at some point in the past; her original accessories, described above, are lost. Some areas of overpainting. Hands are repaired, with some losses to the fingers.
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