Antique Spanish Colonial Procession Santo Sculpture

An exceptional example of Spanish Colonial style, born in Mexico in the 19th century, this large hand carved and painted santo religious folk art altar f...

A scarce Spanish Colonial Hispano-Philippine hand carved santo altar figure sculpture. circa 1810 Handmade by Spanish settlers / colonists in the Philippines, late 18th / early 19th...

Hand Carved Santos in original condition. Beautiful old Patina.

Hand carved Santos in original condition. Beautiful old patina.

Spanish Colonial Religious Wood Carving Icon, Christ Crucified with Two Thieves, Late 19th Century  This late 19th-century Spanish Colonial religious wood carving icon is a finely c...

19th century Spanish Colonial shrine for a Santos or statue of the Virgin Mary in the form of a church likely from New Mexico. Topped with three crosses with traces of gilding, two c...

Late 19th century hand-carved Santos with inset glass eyes and original gesso paint surface. On custom museum display stand. Base measures 6" x 6".

The naive, hand carved wood figure of The Holy Mother vanquishing the Apocalyptic Beast, showing the Holy Virgin standing over the Beast (Satan), pinning it down with her left foot o...

Interesting 18th Santos figure with glass eyes, but without hands or feet, this piece was part of a large installation. Appears all original with he...

MUSEUM PERFECTION ! AZTEC INFLUENCED LATIN AMERICAN COLONIAL ART AMAZINGLY RARE PIECE ! Approx. 14" x 8" x 2 1/2" After Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec empire, painting and sculpture schools were set up within missions to produce art for Roman Catholic worship in Spanish America to promote Christian evangelization. The works that emerge from this period are great historic treasures and tell us much about this time in history. Icons were important in this conversion process. Here is an Imagene that was likely employed in a church from the 17th century. It features 5 elaborately carved faces and figures depicting angels and saints. This piece is magnificent for many reasons, but the most important reason is that this piece illustrates the bridge between the Spanish and Aztec art schools. The Aztecs had developed the most splendid feather art in the world. Feather mosaics (arte plumario in Spanish, amantecayotl in Nahuatl), were created by specially trained and talented Aztec nobles. The blue green iridescent color of hummingbird feathers had made them a regular form of tribute to Aztec rulers and art that featured these feathers were incomparable. The Spanish art instructors adopted feathers into traditional Catholic imagery and this piece shows the result of such hybrid. Here feathers are prominently sculpted into the background and were polychromed with sensational hues to reflect the native love and cultural appreciation for feather art. Few feather mosaics survive because of their temporal frailty, but the wood worked feathers in this piece give scholars and collectors a lasting indication of how Aztecs stylistically used the feathers in their pieces. Aztec religious leaders wore headdresses and garments made of feathers - and here these saints appear to be wearing feather headdresses! Even after centuries, the colors of this piece are incredibly compelling. Fragments of the rich blue green pigment that was applied to mimic the hummingbird feathers are still present. The golds, yellows and browns display spectacular understanding of complementary colors. What's more this piece also shows Aztec sun imagery incorporated into the design! On the reverse side of the Saints' faces we see a vivid blue sun burst type design which clearly was an Aztec motif of the period and has no comparable counterpart in Catholic holy treasures...