**First Time At Auction**

New World, Mexico, Spanish Colonial style, ca. 19th century CE. A particularly haunting example of a carved wood santo depicting Mary holding a seated Christ in one hand. Christ wears a crown and elaborate robes; Mary is clothed in a pale dress with a long, flowing blue cape. Both figures are painted with a thick, glaze-like paint, rather unusually for santo figures. Mary has real hair and finely rendered feet in sandals. Size: 9.85" W x 17.6" H (25 cm x 44.7 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 Kurquhill's Gallery, El Paso, Texas, USA; ex private El Paso, Texas, USA collection, acquired early to mid 1970s

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#127724

Small losses to the paint, with craquelure in many areas. Several of the fingers on both Mary and Christ are lost. Mary's head has been reattached.